Quebec’s fire protection agency SOPFEU has issued a full fire ban for the Outaouais as the fire danger index for the region is expected to be extreme – the highest risk level possible – into the weekend.
This ban, in effect since Oct. 1, extends to campfires, fireworks, or equipment that produces sparks or embers. The MRC Pontiac has also put in place its own fire ban on all types of outdoor fires, including those in a closed or screened in pit.
“It’s currently very dry. We’ve seen a lot of different sources of wildfires in the last few weeks,” said Melanie Morin, SOPFEU communications agent for the Outaouais.
“A building that spreads to the forest, machinery spreads to the forest, campfires, brush fires, people burning waste in their yards. Right now, it doesn’t take much. A few sparks and it does end up turning into something we need to intervene on.”
MRC Pontiac public security manager Julien Gagnon said the MRC put its full ban in place after a fire was reported on Sept. 30 near 810 chemin de la Chute in Mansfield-et-Pontefract that the local fire service couldn’t access.
When they called SOPFEU for assistance, the agency wasn’t able to immediately respond as it already had several teams out fighting fires elsewhere. Mansfield fire chief Pat Bertrand said there were no buildings in the vicinity, and SOPFEU extinguished the fire at around 10 a.m. Oct. 1.
“It was very important that we put a fire ban on, because if anything sparks up now, everything’s so dry it could be a disaster,” said Gagnon, noting the Pontiac region also saw two other small brush fires on Oct. 1, one on L’Île-du-Grand-Calumet and one in Clarendon.
Shawville-Clarendon fire chief Lee Laframboise said the department was called to put out a fire in a field in Clarendon on Oct. 1.
“They were combining a bean field and the field started on fire in a couple different spots,” he said.
“The land owner put an extinguisher to it before we even got there, but then it started up in another spot while we were there. [ . . . ] The field is so dry, if you hit a stone at all you’ll get a spark. It’s just like a bomb because the field is so dry, very easy to ignite.”
Morin said as of Oct. 3 at 12:30 p.m., the Mansfield fire, as well as a small wildfire burning just west of Lac Cayamant, and a third fire north of Sheenboro were all designated as “contained,” which means they’re no longer actively spreading and are staying within their perimeters. She said firefighters will continue working to extinguish the hotspots within their perimeters.
An unusually dry fall
Morin said there were 96 wildfires across the province in September, an unusually high amount for this time of year.
She said 1996, 1999, 2002, and 2005 were all years in which there were over 100 fires in September.
“What is unusual is that this often happens for about a week,” Morin said.
“So far [this year] it’s been ongoing since the end of the summer. The southern portion of the province has had drought conditions since mid-July. We got one or two days of rain here and there, but we haven’t had any significant precipitation.”
She said since the fire ban was put in place in the southern part of the province on Oct. 1, there have still been 12 new wildfires.
“So again, it just goes to show the reason for having a fire ban right now.”