For this reason, the Uashat mak Mani-utenam band council decided Wednesday morning to evacuate the Moisie Nipissis outfitter, which it operates, at the confluence of the Moisie and Nipissis rivers, halfway between Sept-Îles and the fire of forest.
Although the danger does not seem imminent, we preferred to move the employees
indicates the director of the Office of the protection of the rights and the territory of the council, André Michel. The five employees were beginning to smell the smoke.
André Michel says the council’s resources are too limited to manage the forest fire. We don’t have fire planes, only small helicopters
he says. And we won’t get far with small helicopters to control this fire.
The infrastructures of the IOC mine and Hydro-Québec under surveillance
The spokesman for Hydro-Quebec, Stéphane Dumaresq, maintains that the fire did not reach the installations, but if it did in the coming days, the electricity supply could be affected.
It has happened before and we have ways of dealing with such cases. We are in a period where we are not at peak, so we should be able to supply everyone if we were to lose this line for a while
he confirms.
Stéphane Dumaresq adds that at the present time, no employee of the Crown corporation works near the infrastructures. The work that was planned is also suspended following a recommendation from the Society for the Protection of Forests against Fire (SOPFEU).
The fire danger index is extreme in several municipalities on the North Shore. (File photo)
Photo: Radio-Canada / Priscilla Plamondon Lalancette
For its part, the mining company IOC had ceased its activities, but these have partially resumed.
Our infrastructure has not been affected so far. Operations have partially resumed, but remain limited for security reasons. We are working on full recovery scenarios depending on the evolution of the situation
explains by email the senior director of media relations for Rio Tinto, Simon Letendre.
Increased monitoring
There SOPFEUmeanwhile, is always on the lookout, explains prevention and communications officer Isabelle Gariépy.
” In the northern zone, a lot of work is done to ensure that values, such as human life and important infrastructures, are protected. »
We do an assessment to see the possible solutions to put out the fire. This can affect almost all types of things that we could do to prevent the fire from going to places where we have values to protect.
she explains.
Two air tankers carried out dumping operations on Tuesday evening and aerial spraying continued on Wednesday.
The mining company IOC also continues to do watering near the QNS&L rail line, which is near the area of the wildfire.
Sparks during the passage of trains on the QNS&L railway could be the cause of the fire.
Isabelle Gariépy maintains that the citizens of Minganie and MRC de Sept-Rivières could see a plume of smoke due to the direction of the winds.
With information from Camille The cross
