Some 200 firefighters were dispatched to Quebec’s outback to combat a dozen forest fires raging in the Haute-Mauricie region 400 kilometers (249 miles) north of Montreal, a provincial agency announced Thursday.
Thick smoke swept over the Wemotaci native reserve (reservation in US), forcing more than 1,000 to evacuate their homes. The village, however, was not threatened by flames and no one was injured.
Four of the fires, some of them sparked by lightning, were out of control in exceptionally dry forests after a record heat wave in recent days, Marie-Louise Harvey, spokeswoman for Quebec’s forest fire fighting agency, Sopfeu, told public broadcaster Radio-Canada.
Firefighters on the ground were being supported by airplane and helicopter water bombers, she said.
Due to the dry conditions, authorities forbid lighting of camp fires throughout most of the province.
Source: Forest fires flare north of Montreal - Khaleej Times
Date: 27 May 2010
Climate Change
NewsYou can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
