(Montreal) Forty Forest firefighters from Quebec and two representatives of the Forest Protection Society (SOPFEU) were to fly to Alberta on Saturday to contribute to the fight against forest fires in the west of the country.
There were 66 active fires in Alberta on Saturday morning, 139 in Manitoba, 68 in Saskatchewan and 147 forest fires in British Columbia.
Quebec has been relatively spared so far. Only two active fires were only identified on Saturday morning. This is partly explained by the weather since there has been rain in a constant way since spring and the humidity remains high in the province.
“We were able to meet the needs addressed by Alberta,” said Stéphane Caron, coordinator for prevention and communications at SOPFEU in a recent interview with the Canadian press.
“So, we have 40 firefighters, pumpers who will leave on Saturday in Alberta. We already have 40 firefighters, pumpers in Saskatchewan (deployed last week) and 60 in Manitoba, he said.
In British Columbia, more than 35,000 love at first sight has been identified since Wednesday, according to Emelie Peacock, an information agent at the service of the province’s firefighting department, BC Wildfire Service.
Thunderstorms sparked 65 new fires between Thursday and Friday, some of which are near communities in the Fraser canyon and on the island of Vancouver.
Residents who were evacuated due to a fire near Peachland on Wednesday were allowed to return home.
Okanagan’s emergency operations center said the occupants of 118 residences were authorized to return home on Friday, but that they have to stay on an alert foot.