The entire Pontiac and Outaouais regions remain under a complete fire ban following a decision on Oct. 1 by Quebec’s fire protection agency SOPFEU due to an increase in dry conditions across the region.
The ban 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.
Since the fire ban was put in place, there were 14 new fires in the Outaouais, eight of which were human-caused. After two fires last week, three broke out on Sunday, two of them near Otter Lake, which are both now under control, and one near Lac Cahill in the Zec St-Patrice.
As of Monday afternoon, the largest wildfire burning was near Lac Cahill in a very forested area, estimated at 5.5 hectares. Morin said there are water bombers working on it as well as helicopters.
Morin said as of Monday, rain is expected in the forecast, but SOPFEU’s website indicates that the extreme fire risk will continue until Wednesday of this week.
“The system is going to pass more north. We’re kind of waiting and seeing how much [rain] is actually going to come in. That said, after we get that amount it’s back to nice weather for several days. So any and all help, we’ll take it. It will definitely calm things down in terms of fire starts for a day or so.”
Two Otter Lake fires
The first of two calls received by the Pontiac North Fire Department on Sunday came in at around 2:30 p.m. for a fire on Desjardins Road.
“We got a lady who called the office and said she saw smoke near Scout Road [ . . . ] she called 9-1-1 and 9-1-1 called us,” said department chief Denis Chaussé, who said 10 firefighters were sent to the scene.
“It didn’t burn much, but it was burning on the ground,” he said, adding that once firefighters had extinguished the fire at 3:30 p.m., SOPFEU arrived on scene and checked for any hot spots left on the ground. “They took over, and re-verified what we did,” said Chaussé.
A few hours later, the department received a call at 6:49 p.m. for a fire on Lakeview Road.
“We were still at the office here cleaning the hoses,” said Chaussé, who said the department mobilized quickly to the scene and also called SOPFEU officials who were still at the fire on Desjardins Road.
Chaussé said the Lakeview fire, which is listed as spanning 0.2 hectares on SOPFEU’s website, was caused by a free falling on a hydro line. He said 9-1-1 informed him that two people had been trapped at the end of the road. “They tried to get out, but the flame was on both sides of the road,” he said, adding that by the time the department arrived at the scene the two individuals had managed to escape to safety.
He said the department evacuated five other cottages on the road, adding that everyone was brought to Blaskie Road where it was safe, and that there were no injuries and no property damage.
When SOPFEU left the scene on Sunday night, there were still small spots burning on the ground, but came back to extinguish it on Monday morning. As of Monday afternoon, the fire was listed as “under control” on SOPFEU’s website.
Many residents expressed confusion online over whether or not there was an active fire ban in Otter Lake, but Chaussé assured residents that there was an active ban in all Pontiac municipalities.
On Monday, SOPFEU’s online map showed that the fire danger index for the next three days was “extreme,” and Chaussé said that the forecast for the next few weeks shows “very dry air.”
He said residents are to observe the total fire ban in the municipality until further notice.
Fires last week
Morin said in dry times like these, it doesn’t take much for a fire to start, and so residents should take precautionary measures.
“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.”
