Threatened by flames, the city of Port-Cartier has declared a state of emergency for the next five days, while more than 1,000 people had to be evacuated from their homes on Friday evening.
The mayor of Port-Cartier, Alain Thibault, made the announcement Saturday morning during a press conference while the flames were still raging nearly 13 km from the municipality and 11 km from the federal detention establishment at maximum security in Port-Cartier.
“Everything happened on schedule,” said Alain Thibault. We’re sorry if you felt rushed, but we had a lot of things [to manage]. »
The displaced residents were able to find refuge in an accommodation center in Baie-Comeau. A pre-alert will be issued in the event that other evacuations are required. Preventive evacuations in seniors’ residences and CHSLDs are also planned in Baie-Comeau.
The situation surrounding the spread of forest fires in the surrounding area remains the same as late Friday evening.
A forest fire broke out on Friday noon north of the Port-Cartier penitentiary center. It then progressed and is currently 7 miles from the city. Fire safety describes this fire as “extremely violent and threatening”.
A second fire is still underway at Walker Lake. The latter has gradually gained momentum and is currently “uncontrollable”. For the moment, teams from the Society for the Protection of Forests against Fire (SOPFEU) are not able to tackle the flames.