STEPHEN RICCIO
PONTIAC Aug. 19, 2020
MRC Pontiac has had 13 forest fires throughout 2020, an amount that lines up with past yearly averages according to SOPFEU representative Melanie Morin.
The SOPFEU is the provincial organization for forest fire protection, and Morin said their data suggests that . . .
the ten-year fire average for this point in the summer is 15.
The 13 fires covered 52 total hectares. There was one in April, eight in May and four during July—the most significant one being a 33.9-hectare blaze near Nigault Lake.
The causes of the fires ranged from lightning to residents’ negligence to electrical breaks.
“We had a busy month of May, we had a very busy spring season where it was very dry out,” Morin explained. “What we call ‘green-up’ hadn’t happened yet. Lawns were still yellow, fields were still yellow and the leaves hadn’t come out yet, people were doing a lot of burning in their backyards.”
Forests were at increased risk during those late spring months, but Morin said the recent increase of rain and humidity since the second half of July greatly lowers risk.
While the overall season hasn’t been particularly lively for the Pontiac, she said that the Maniwaki fire centre has experienced a greater frequency of fires in other areas of southern Quebec.
Morin added that the increased number of people at home due to COVID-19 could have contributed to some of the fires.
“Is there a link between the fact that people were quarantined and stuck at home?” she asked. “Maybe, but we don’t have any hard data on that, but we definitely saw an uptick.”
Many of the fire bans that have been put in place throughout the Pontiac have been due to the dry conditions overall and the higher frequency of forest fires in those other areas of the province.
“I’m hoping that perhaps people in the Pontiac heeded our warnings and were more careful but luckily the Pontiac was not one of our busiest areas,” Morin said.
