Wild Fires Still Raging in Quebec

During the first six months of 2023, close to 14,900 square kilometres have been affected by forest fires across Quebec. In the month of June alone, more than 14,500 square kilometres of forest burned in Quebec, an area over 30 times the size of the island of Montreal and three times the area of Prince Edward Island. Over the last 10 years, the average area of burned forest during the same corresponding period of June was 77 square kilometres.

In June of this year, the most intense month of wild fire activity in Quebec, over 14,000 people fought these fires, including at various times teams comprised of 547 forest firefighters from France, Portugal, Spain, the United States, South Korea, Yukon and New Brunswick, who were assisted by some 20 water bombers and nearly 80 helicopters.

Korean firefighters arrive in Quebec, July 2, 2023, to assist in fighting the wildfires.

During the month of June thousands of people were evacuated for periods ranging from a few days to a few weeks from towns in the Côte-Nord, Abitibi and northern Quebec regions, including Sept-îles, Maliotenam, Chibougamau, Chapais, as well as Normétal, Lac Simon, Lebel-sur-Quévillon and Senneterre, etc. Three sectors around Val-d'Or were evacuated at the end of June, as were some 360 people from the Atikamekw community of Obedjiwan, in the Mauricie region. More than a thousand residents from the Cree communities of Mistissini, Oujé-Bougoumou and Waswanipi, in Northern Quebec were also forced to leave as a precautionary measure. Other communities in Haute-Mauricie, Abitibi-Témiscamingue and Northern Quebec remained on high alert. As of July 6, 155,846 people had been evacuated from their homes due to threatening forest fires, a toll unseen in the last 40 years, as reported by the Quebec Ministry of Natural Resources, with 40 per cent of those evacuated hailing from Indigenous communities.

As the summer season advanced into July and August, many areas remained under alert, such as the Abitibi area. New forest fires began appearing at more northern latitudes, such as in the James Bay area, around the 52nd parallel. Some 200 Hydro-Québec employees working at the LG-3 and LG-4 hydroelectric power stations in Northern Quebec were evacuated by plane on June 20-21 as a precautionary measure, given that the Transtaïga Road linking the 660 kilometres of power stations in the La Grande River complex to the main James Bay Road was affected by forest fires. Conditions continued to deteriorate, with planes no longer able to land there. As of July 6, the evacuation of personnel remained in effect for a certain time, until they were able to return to their posts. A second evacuation of a hundred workers from the LG-3 hydro dam site was ordered on August 16 because of new forest fires in the James Bay area.

During July and August, many Cree communities along the James Bay were forced to evacuate their villages. As recently as last week, 200 people from the Cree community of Wemindji, along the James Bay coast, were evacuated by plane. As well, many sections of the main road that links Abitibi to the James Bay area were temporarily closed because of smoke and strong winds. This road is a vital land link between the northern Cree communities and the rest of Quebec. This situation has prevailed since July 17 when the Quebec Ministry of Natural Resources announced that road access to the forest area comprising all of the western territory of the Eeyou Istchee First Nation was restricted to essential services.

First cohort of Cree auxiliary forest fire fighters who completed basic training.

The agency responsible for combating forest fires in Quebec, the Société de protection des forêts contre le feu (SOPFEU), reports that 523 forest fires have been recorded since the start of the 2023 season, twice as many as the average 271 during the corresponding period over the last ten years. On June 26, SOPFEU reported that 12,500 square kilometres had been affected by fires in the "intensive zone" – located south of the 51st parallel – since the start of the season. The previous record, dating back to 1923, the year reliable data became available for commercially exploited forests, was 12,300 square kilometres.

For Your Information — SOPFEU

Quebec's Société de protection des forêts contre le feu (SOPFEU) is a not-for-profit organization with around 450 employees at any given time. Its mission is "to provide the very best forest fire protection so as to ensure the sustainability of forest areas at the lowest possible cost."

According to its website, SOPFEU has a network that "serves to connect the Quebec government, the forest industry and major private woodlot owners. Managers of parks and outdoor activity establishments, municipal fire chiefs, forestry supervisors and the media are all valuable collaborators maximizing the SOPFEU's range of action."

SOPFEU says that its staff concentrates their efforts on priority fires to protect communities and certain strategic infrastructures. Resort areas (camps and cottages) are not being prioritized. For example, on June 28, 2023, at the peak of the forest fire activity, "14 fires were classified as priority 1, while 12 fires were classified as priority 2.

"On out-of-control fires, priority is given to fighting fire edges in areas that could threaten communities. Where this has not yet been achieved, mechanized stop lines are being built to protect towns, municipalities and villages."

Under the heading "Anticipation for Better Control," SOPFEU states that "Meteorological observations and forecasts are at the heart of the SOPFEU's work. The organization's know-how is based on its advanced capacity to analyze data provided by 193 weather stations. This way, the SOPFEU can monitor the situation in the forest province-wide and evaluate at-risk areas every hour of every day. In addition, airplanes fly over the forest looking for suspicious smoke according to circuits based on weather conditions, the fire danger rating or lightning," says the SOPFEU website.

Aerial view of charred lands in northern Quebec

Of the 523 forest fires that have been identified in the Intensive Protection Zone (IPZ) by SOPFEU since the beginning of 2023, 236 were wild fires caused by lightning. Even though only 45 per cent of forest fires are caused by lightning, this represents more than 99 per cent of all the woodland areas burned. In the northern zone alone of the 137 forest fires identified since the beginning of 2023, 126 were wild fires caused by lightning.[1] The northern latitude corresponding to the 51st parallel is the line that separates the two major areas of Quebec: the Intensive Protection Zone that corresponds to the most densely populated territory of Quebec from the Northern Zone inhabited mostly by the Cree and Inuit Indigenous Peoples.

What all this reveals is the need to migrate towards real-time detection and recognition of forest fires by satellite so that the teams and equipment deployed daily to fight forest fires can do so properly. "Having a good view of a fire is the most important thing for fighting it effectively. There aren't enough pilots to have a plane watching every fire every day, let alone twice a day," says Joshua Johnston, a Natural Resources Canada scientist working on the WildFireSat Mission, which in 2029 will become Canada's first satellite specifically designed to monitor forest fires.

Note

1. "Statistics Intensive Zone – Table per month and cause, 2023", SOPFEU.

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This article was published in

Number 46 - August 23, 2023

Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2023/Articles/WO10467.HTM

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