MONTREAL — An evacuation order was given Friday to residents of the town of Radisson, on the territory of Eeyou Istchee Baie-James in Nord-du-Québec, due to forest fires and the quality of the air that could affect the health of the population.
In a notice published in the afternoon, residents of the area were called to go to La Grande-Rivière airport by organized car convoy, two departures of which were scheduled for the end of the day. The evacuees were then to be taken to Montréal-Trudeau International Airport.
“You cannot stay on the spot considering that a fire is dangerously approaching the limits of the locality”, can we read in the evacuation order signed by the deputy president of the Locality of Radisson, Aurèle Gravel.
Earlier Friday, the Locality had issued a “pre-alert of possible evacuation”. She invited residents to prepare a bag containing essential items.
In a press release sent Thursday morning, the regional government of Eeyou Istchee Baie-James also indicated that several Cree communities were in “pre-evacuation” mode, in particular because of the smoke emerging from the fires.
The government has encouraged citizens to stay tuned for possible new directives.
In the region, parts of the Billy Diamond and North roads are also closed to allow authorities to fight the fires. The Trans Taïga road is completely inaccessible.
A shelter is open in Matagami to help citizens.
The Cree community of Nemaska, in Eeyou Istchee, for its part implemented Tuesday the evacuation as a precautionary measure of the most vulnerable people from the village, which has some 800 residents.
The federal government has also authorized the deployment of Canadian Armed Forces Rangers to help with evacuations related to forest fires in Nord-du-Québec.
Federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair made the announcement on Friday morning. He says he responded to a request for federal assistance.
Ten uncontrolled fires
The Society for the Protection of Forests against Fire (SOPFEU) listed in its most recent report on Friday 86 active fires in the northern zone, for a total of more than 2.5 million hectares burned.
A situation that remains worrying, according to SOPFEU.
“With the weather over the past few days, several fires are still growing, 10 of which are considered out of control. The drying up of the fuel, combined with high winds, is causing the fires to progress northward (Friday) and (Saturday),” the organization wrote in a Facebook post.
Radisson is one of the sectors prioritized by forest firefighter teams because of the airport, which is threatened by a fire. The communities of Wemindji, Waskaganish and Eastmain, as well as the Billy-Diamond road, are also considered priorities by SOPFEU.
This specifies that no community or municipality is currently directly threatened by a forest fire.
In the intensive zone, 34 fires remained, but they were all under control.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests (MRNF) announced Thursday morning an expansion of the northern territory affected by the ban on access to the forest on lands in the domain of the State and by the closure of forest roads.
