The province’s office for fire prevention says it can only put out 30 fires
As firefighters work hard to put out forest fires in Quebec, the province’s agency for preventing fires,Société de protection des forêts contre le feu(SOPFEU) is warning people in Quebec that there are more wildfires than the agency can handle.
SOPFEU spokesman Stéphane Caron told Radio-Canada that there were 101 fires on Friday morning, and 10 of them were out of control.Tout un matin. He also said that they think that number will be twice as high by the end of the day.
“Right now, with 101 active fires, SOPFEU can’t fight them all,” said Caron, because they can only fight 30 fires at once.
He said that the problem is not because there aren’t enough resources but because there are so many fires going at once.
“Our top priority is to protect the places where people live and important, strategic infrastructure.”
Caron said that the situation in the northern Quebec town of Chapais, where more than 500 homes had to be evacuated this week, has gotten better, but that the fires near Sept-Îles on the North Shore of the province are worrying.
He also said that protecting the Hydro-Québec power lines is very important.
Caron said that SOPFEU has asked for help, but there are already so many crews fighting fires in eastern and western Canada that it might have to call on firefighting teams from other countries.