According to the mayor of Chapais, Isabelle Lessard, the 500 residents are redirected to Chibougamau, about forty kilometers away, to be accommodated at the municipal arena.
Since Wednesday afternoon, this forest fire has been raging. It was declared “out of control” by the Society for the Protection of Forests against Fire (SOPFEU) in the early evening around 8 p.m. Thursday. The first alert was received by the authorities around 2 p.m.
The area of the fire is estimated at 1400 hectares, or 14 km², and is located east of Lake Cavan, a resort area near Chapais. The few residents of the area have already been evacuated on Wednesday afternoon.
Chapais has about 1500 citizens.
According to this SOPFEU map, around 8:30 p.m. the fire covered an area of 1,400 hectares. It was about 11 kilometers from the municipality of Chapais.
Photo: Screenshot
Due to the winds, however, the fire could move towards the city.
As of Thursday morning, a command post of the Sûreté du Québec and the SOPFEU will be erected in front of the town hall of Chapais.
Tomorrow morning, we will be a little better able to see how far the fire has spread. Will he be under control? Are there still risks for the municipality? And then at that time, we will make the decisions, if the citizens can come back to town or if they will have to stay a little longer
said Mayor Isabelle Lessard, in an interview with Radio-Canada.
Uncontrolled fire
According to SOPFEUas the fire was declared uncontrolled, interventions to try to contain it were interrupted.
Despite the attempts we tried to make to contain it, they were in vain given the intensity of the fire. […] As the fire is out of control, there are no more operations on the ground at this time.
said the spokesperson for the SOPFEUJosee Poitras.
Earlier Wednesday, tanker planes and forest firefighters were fighting the blaze.
Almost everywhere in Quebec, the danger of fire is at an extreme level. A ban on open fires is in effect.
