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Wildfires prompt air-quality alerts in US

Canada/us

Northern Quebec’s largest town was being evacuated yesterday as firefighters worked to beat back threats from out-of-control blazes in remote communities in the northern and northwestern parts of the province.

According to the province’s forest fire prevention agency, more than 150 forest fires were burning in the province, including more than 110 deemed out of control. The intense Canadian wildfires are blanketing the northeastern US and parts of Eastern Canada in a haze, turning the air acrid, the sky yellowish gray and prompting warnings for vulnerable populations to stay inside.

The effects of hundreds of wildfires burning in Quebec could be felt as far away as New York City and New England, blotting out skylines and irritating throats.

Late yesterday, authorities issued an evacuation order for Chibougamau, Quebec, a town of about 7500 in the remote region of the province. Authorities said the evacuation was under way.

‘‘We’re following all of this from hour to hour, obviously,’’ Premier Francois Legault told reporters in Sept-iles, Quebec. ‘‘If we look at the situation in Quebec as a whole, there are several places where it is still worrying.’’

Legault said the AbitibiTemiscamingue region in northwestern Quebec was an area of particular concern, with the communities of Normetal and Lebelsur-quevillon under threat.

The mayor of Lebel-surQuevillon, where about 2100 people were forced from their homes on the weekend, said the fire is about 10 kilometres outside of town, but its advance has been slower than expected.

‘‘The fire started in an area where there were no trees, which slowed it down considerably,’’ Mayor Guy Lafreniere said.

Other northern communities at risk include Chibougamau and the Cree village of Chisasibi on the eastern shore of James Bay. Firefighting resources have also been dispatched to Hydro

Quebec’s Micoua substation near Baie-comeau, Legault said.

On Tuesday, Legault said authorities had no choice but to leave the hamlet of Clova to burn, drawing the ire of local residents. Legault said yesterday that he had simply repeated what fire prevention officials told him: the fire around the tiny community about 325 kilometres northwest of Montreal was too intense to send water bombers. That remained true yesterday, he said, but he noted that no homes had burned.

Dominic Vincent, the owner of the Auberge Restaurant Clova, said that by Tuesday afternoon, the situation in the area had already improved, aided by cooler temperatures and a change in wind direction.

Quebec Natural Resources Minister Maite Blanchette Vezina told reporters in Quebec City that evacuees across the province number just over 8300, down from 10,000 at the start of the week, but the Abitibi region remains a concern.

‘‘We are not expecting rain in the short term, which is what makes it more difficult to fight fires.’’ –

World

en-nz

2023-06-08T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-06-08T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/281775633554729

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