Brett Thoms
Pontiac May 16, 2022
The fire danger in southern Quebec was extremely high last week, according to La Société de protection des forêts contre le feu (SOPFEU), a not-for-profit organization based in Quebec, dedicated to the prevention of forest fires.
“I’ve been in a position here at the MRC for six years now and I don’t think I’ve seen it as bad as it was this year,” said Julien Gagnon, Fire and Public Safety Coordinator at the MRC Pontiac. “Statistically, roughly in the last three weeks . . .
in our MRC it has been as bad as it’s ever been for fires seeming to get away from people. There have been a lot of brush fires that eventually some do turn into forest fires. There’s on average almost a fire a day across our MRC in the last couple of weeks.”
“Between April 28 and May 5 there have been 15 fires so that’s even more than one a day, it’s two a day really, ‘’ said Gagnon. “And they’ve been everywhere from Mansfield, Waltham, Clarendon Thorne, Otter Lake, and Alleyn-et-Cawood, so it’s all over the Pontiac.”
Starting May 7 SOPFEU issued the now lifted ban on open air fires across several regions of Quebec, including the Pontiac
“We calculate fire danger risk on several factors,” said Mélanie Morin, a Fire Information Officer for SOPFEU. “Being the time of year right now, it’s quite easy to get an extreme fire danger rating because everything is dry outside and there’s not a lot of green. Also, there’s a lot of dead vegetation from last summer.”
Morin went on to explain that the spring is the worst season for fires in the area, as even though it may get hotter in the mid to late summer, it typically isn’t as dry as it is during this time of year.
“We take the weather into account and we’ve had almost no precipitation for over a week and relative humidity is very, very dry actually in the air right now, ‘’ said Morin, describing the conditions last week. “All of those factors put together means that [last week] the fire risk was extremely high.”
“Temperatures are increasing and the amount of moisture is decreasing in forests, and it’s causing a lot of fires,” said Gagnon.
“So right now, no open fires in or near the forest, meaning no traditional campfires, no burning waste, no backyard burning and no fireworks,” said Gagnon. “What the SOPFEU ban did allow however is any propane fueled apparatus. And as well any fireplace that is completely enclosed with a metal grating called a spark arrestor.”
The regulations in the MRC Pontiac are more stringent than what the SOPFEU required during the ban and still remain in effect.
“The MRC [bylaw] is a little stricter than SOPFEU because it allows local municipalities to even put a fire ban on even the screened in appliances, ‘’ said Gagnon. “It also allows for municipalities to require permits for fires. So we can always be more stringent than the SOPFEU, but we can’t be less,” said Gagnon.
The MRC bylaw states that no open fires are permitted between April 1 and November 15. As of June 2021, a fire bylaw was adopted by the entire MRC, ensuring that rules are uniform across the region.
“I would say the best way to prevent forest or brush fires is to respect those local guidelines and bylaws,” said Gagnon.
“Do what is required by authorities by obviously following any bans that are in place, and when we are not in a ban situation then to always verify the fire danger rating, kind of like checking the weather before you go out,” said Morin.
Beyond following fire guidelines set by the authorities, both Morin and Gagnon also recommend that people in the Pontiac can do other things to make sure fires are prevented.
“Always make sure that if you’re smoking you put out your cigarettes, and if you’re using an ATV, to stick to trails, as off-roading on an ATV in long grass is also a source of forest fires,” said Morin.
“Almost 95 per cent of the forest fires that start are caused by human error,” said Gagnon. “I would say never burn in an open-air fire and always have a screening appliance. Then don’t ever leave it unattended. And when you do have the fire, have the proper amount of extinguishing agent like a fire extinguisher or a proper quantity of water.
“If you do find yourself near a forest fire or large brush fire, the best advice is, if it can’t be contained by just small measures, the best course of action is to just move away, call 911 and let the fire department take care of it,” said Gagnon.
When asked how conditions were compared to those in Western Canada, which have seen massive forest fires in the last few years, Morin said it really depended on the type of trees present and the underlying conditions.
The past few years, the weather patterns have made it so that the Western provinces are particularly more affected [by forest fires],” said Morin. “They had drought conditions but it doesn’t mean that Quebec could not have similar fires. We’ve had really busy seasons. In 2005 we had 1,300 fires, in 2010 we had nearly 1,000 fires in the summer, 2012 the same thing. It just depends on weather patterns.”
Morin did however stipulate that massive fires on the scale of Western Canada are far more likely in the northern part of the province as opposed to this region due the smaller presence of coniferous trees.
However, in the event of a Lytton, BC type of event, Gagnon said that the municipalities do have contingency plans.
“The municipalities have emergency response plans that they can implement and when they declare a state of emergency,” said Gagnon. “They’re allowed to evacuate parts of their town or the entire town altogether and open temporary shelters for people to go to in neighboring municipalities.”
As of now the SOPFEU ban is lifted, though the regulations in the MRC bylaw remain in effect.
