Wildfires in western Quebec prompt thousands more evacuees to relocate

Wildfires in western Quebec have prompted thousands to evacuate the area as the Canadian Armed Forces gear up to help fight the 141 ongoing forest fires in the province.

Wildfires in western Quebec have prompted thousands to evacuate the area over the weekend, while the threat of encroaching flames eased slightly on the North Shore as Canadian Armed Forces geared up to fight the threat.

Public Security Minister François Bonnardel says some 5,500 residents of the Abitibi-Temiscamingue region, which borders Ontario, have been relocated.

He says another 4,500 people in the North Shore community of Sept-Îles and its outskirts were also forced from their homes, but no further evacuations are planned at the moment.

He adds rain is expected in the area in the coming days, and the wind direction there and in Abitibi are favourable.

But the state of emergency in Sept-Îles, which sits about 890 kilometres northeast of Montreal, has been extended for five days, with evacuation orders in place at least through Monday morning.

Some 100 soldiers are set to arrive later today to lend a hand.

“We are facing a situation that has never been seen,” Natural Resources and Forests Minister Maite Blanchette Vezina said at a news conference involving Bonnardel and other provincial cabinet ministers.

Vezina noted residents are barred from walking in the forests of several vast regions, including Northern Quebec, Abitibi-Temiscamingue, Outaouais, the North Coast, Mauricie, Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, Lanaudière and the Laurentians.