An evacuation order was issued to residents of the village of Radisson in the Eeyou Istchee Baie-James area of ​​northern Quebec on Friday, as wildfires and air quality could affect the health of the population.

In a statement released in the afternoon, residents of the area were urged to take an organized convoy of cars to La Grande-Rivière Airport, from which two departures were scheduled later in the day. The evacuees were then to be taken to Montréal-Trudeau International Airport.

They cannot stay in place as a fire is dangerously approaching the town limitswe can read in the evacuation order signed by the Deputy President of the municipality of Radisson, Aurèle Gravel.

Earlier Friday, The Locality aired one Early warning of a possible evacuation. She asked residents to prepare a bag with essentials.

In a press release sent out Thursday morning, the Eeyou Istchee Baie-James regional government also indicated that several Cree communities were in attendance pre-evacuationespecially because of the smoke coming out of the fires.

The government has urged citizens to stay alert to possible new guidelines.

Portions of Billy Diamond and North roads in the area are also closed to allow authorities to fight the fires. The Trans Taïga road is completely inaccessible.

An emergency shelter was opened in Matagami to help the citizens.

For its part, the Cree community of Nemaska ​​in Eeyou Istchee on Tuesday carried out the evacuation as a precautionary measure for the most vulnerable people in the village of around 800 people.

The federal government has also authorized the deployment of Canadian Forces rangers to assist with evacuations related to wildfires in north-du-Quebec.

This was announced by the Federal Minister for Emergency Preparedness, Bill Blair, on Friday morning. He says he was responding to a request for federal aid.

Ten uncontrolled fires

The Society for the Protection of Forests from Fire (SOPFEU) listed 86 active fires in the North Zone in its latest report on Friday, bringing the total burned to more than 2.5 million hectares.

A situation that, according to SOPFEU, continues to give cause for concern.

Several fires are still increasing due to the weather of the last few days, ten of which are believed to be out of control. Drying fuel combined with strong winds are causing the fires to push north on Friday and Saturdaywrites the organization in a publication on Facebook.

Radisson is among the sectors prioritized by forest firefighting teams due to the risk of fire at the airport. The communities of Wemindji, Waskaganish, Eastmain and Billy Diamond Road are also prioritized by the SOPFEU.

It states that no community or municipality is currently directly threatened by a forest fire.

There were still 34 fires in the intensive care zone, but they were all under control. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests (MRNF) announced Thursday morning an expansion of the northern area affected by the ban on access to forest on properties in the state and the closure of forest roads.