Amid hot, dry weather, Quebec forest fire prevention group on high alert
Quebec's forest fire prevention agency is maintaining a high alert and a spokesperson said Tuesday the hot and dry weather descending on the province this week is a cause for concern.
The province on Sunday ordered a ban on open fires in forested areas, and on Tuesday the ban was extended to cover forests and nearby areas.
The territory affected by the ban was also extended Tuesday to include Montreal and several regions that surround it.
The agency, known as SOPFEU, works on forest fire prevention alongside the province's Natural Resources Department.
Fire information officer Melanie Morin said after a wet, rainy start to the season, the danger index was at "high" for the past two weeks and is now at "extreme," where it is expected to remain until at least the end of the week.
"We've had fires that are totally in the boreal forest, some fires that have threatened certain infrastructures, but in all cases, so far we've been able to limit damage throughout the province," Morin said.
A high pressure system over the province is causing very warm and dry weather, and it's making the province's forests vulnerable to wildfires, she said.
Multiple wildfires are burning across the country, notably in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Alberta and British Columbia.
Apart from a 20-person team dispatched last weekend to Alberta for two weeks, all other resources remain available.
"Because our season started more slowly, we were able to respond favourably to requests for help from other provinces, including Alberta," Morin said.
As of Tuesday afternoon, there were nine active fires in Quebec.
Since the beginning of the season, authorities have detected 194 fires that have burned about 318 hectares.
The 10-year average for the same time period is 188 fires burning an area of about 185 hectares.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 30, 2023.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Freezing rain, snow, extreme cold: Weather warnings issued from Edmonton to St. John's
Environment Canada has issued a series of winter weather alerts from Edmonton to St. John's as freezing rain, snow squalls and extreme cold blanket parts of the country.
A new book about Chrystia Freeland just came out. Here's what we learned
A new book about Chrystia Freeland has just come out, after the publishing company sped up its release date by a few months. CTV News sifted through the book and pulled out some notable anecdotes, as well as insights about Freeland's relationship with the prime minister.
LIVE @ 10:30 a.m. ET Trudeau shuffling fresh faces into cabinet today to fill vacancies
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is shuffling his cabinet this morning. He is expected to make several changes to his ministerial roster in a bid to inject some stability at a tumultuous time for the embattled Liberal government.
'Lowlifes': B.C. family outraged over theft of outdoor Christmas decorations
Security footage from a home in Vancouver’s Kerrisdale neighbourhood clearly shows a man grabbing Christmas decorations from the front lawn, and then casually walking away with them.
A teenager kills a 7-year-old student and injures 4 others in a school knife attack in Croatia
A knife-wielding teenager walked into a school in Croatia’s capital Zagreb on Friday, killing a 7-year-old student and injuring three more children and a teacher, authorities said.
The Royal Family unveils new Christmas cards with heartwarming family photos
The Royal Family is spreading holiday cheer with newly released Christmas cards.
'It wasn't me!': Macron under fire for Mayotte cyclone response
French President Emmanuel Macron faced widespread frustration and anger from residents of Mayotte during his visit to the Indian Ocean archipelago, which is still reeling from the damage of the strongest cyclone to hit the region in nearly a century.
It's not the government's job to respond to everything Donald Trump posts, Dominic LeBlanc says
Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc says it's not the Liberal government's job to respond to everything U.S. president-elect Donald Trump posts online.
Giant sloths and mastodons coexisted with humans for millennia in Americas, new discoveries suggest
For a long time, scientists believed the first humans to arrive in the Americas soon killed off these giant ground sloths through hunting, along with many other massive animals like mastodons, sabre-toothed cats and dire wolves that once roamed North and South America.