Recent rain has given firefighters in Quebec some relief amid a historically bad wildfire season.
However, the province is still in for a long fight.
After a spell of hot, dry weather, heavy rain has finally fallen in Quebec’s intensive zone — that's the area miles north of Montreal.
Melanie Morin is with the agency in charge of fighting wildfires in Quebec. She said the area has stabilized.
“So we have been able to have crews work much more efficiently, much more safely on the ground,” Morin said.
Additionally, Morin said resources have stabilized, meaning they are not actively requesting additional personnel from outside of the province.
However, it’s another story in Quebec’s northern zone. Traditionally, managers let more fires burn there, because the threat to people and infrastructure is low. But Morin said lightning has made fires more intense in the past couple of weeks.
"We are putting resources on the ground to fight them because these wildfires have either affected major roadways, access roads into indigenous communities that are along the Hudson's Bay Areas, or that are threatening strategic infrastructure.”
Morin said it’s unclear when the wildfire season will calm down for good.
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