In this photo taken at the end of the day by a citizen, black smoke invaded the sky of Lebel-sur-Quévillon.
The citizens of Lebel-sur-Quévillon received a mandatory evacuation order early Friday evening due to a forest fire raging near the town.
Lebel-sur-Quévillon has just over 2000 citizens.
The Emergency Measures Service indicates in its alert that the siren of the Fire Department of the City will ring continuously to advise people to evacuate.
The organization asks citizens to remain calm and stresses that “we have plenty of time to evacuate everyone”.
The people of Lebel-sur-Quévillon must prepare an emergency kit and head to Senneterre, where the arena will serve as a meeting point. About 90 km separate the two cities.
Those who do not have a vehicle must go to the Desjardins hall of the Lebel-sur-Quévillon Community Center, where a transportation service will be offered.
Dozens of fires are active in this region, according to the map from the Société de protection des forêts contre le feu (SOPFEU).
According to information gathered by Radio-Canada, the forest fire has grown in size in Lebel-sur-Quévillon and is spreading at a significant speed.
“The situation is very worrying in Lebel-sur-Quévillon,” said Stéphane Caron, spokesperson for SOPFEU.
The fire is considered out of control.
In the case of this fire, it is a fire that has really grown in size and intensity. When a fire is out of control, there can come a time when the combat strength is, no matter what, insufficient even if there were five tankers. The force of the fire keeps it moving forward. This is the case with the fire currently in this sector. This is why we had discussions with the city authorities. It's not obviously us who make decisions about evacuations, he mentioned in a subsequent interview.
According to the mayor of Senneterre, Nathalie-Ann Pelchat , people arrive at the arena as they come and must register on the spot. They can go to family, friends around or people from Senneterre will help them find accommodation, she explained during an interview granted around 8:30 p.m. to Radio-Canada. /p>
According to the office of Ungava MP Denis Lamothe, he is in constant communication with Mayor Guy Lafrenière. As reported, the mayor is still on site making sure everyone leaves. An attaché from the MP's office in Lebel-sur-Quévillon also offers assistance. Everything seems to be going well.
More details will follow.
