Hiring blitz at Quebec's fire protection agency as fears over early and intense wildfire season grow

The images of millions of hectares of burned forest, thousands of people being evacuated and the smoke from Quebec fires reaching as far south as New York City brings back bad memories for Quebec's forest fire prevention agency and communities across Quebec.

"We're going to be worried all summer," says Guy Lafrenière, mayor of Lebel-sur-Quévillon, Que., a town located 800 kilometres north of Montreal.

Lafrenière says he's hoping for a rainy summer but fears a repeat of last year's hot, dry weather, which forced his residents to evacuate twice.

The Société de protection des forêts contre le feu (SOPFEU) is hoping to expand its ranks this year to be better prepared across Quebec by hiring 160 people including 80 firefighters in the next two years — increasing its staff by 32 per cent.

A permanent SOPFEU base of operations with 14 firefighters will also be set up over the next few weeks in Lebel-sur-Quévillon.

"This will help me sleep," says Mayor Lafrenière.

"It's going to be very reassuring. I'm going to feel a lot safer knowing that there are people taking care of this in my area."

Although SOPFEU's team of meteorologists says it's impossible to know what kind of summer lies ahead, as of Tuesday, parts of southern and western Quebec were already under high or very high risk of forest fires.

"Lack of snow in winter, a milder winter ... All this leads us to think that perhaps we could experience our big June fires in May," says SOPFEU meteorologist Olivier Lundqvist.

"We're unable to say at this point what kind of season we're going to have."

Among the new hires for 2024, five firefighters will be in La Tuque, 20 in Roberval, 14 in Lebel-sur-Quévillon, four in Maniwaki, three in Mont-Tremblant and four in Matagami.

It's thanks to Quebec's enhanced budget of $29 million over five years, says Stéphane Caron, co-ordinator of fire prevention and communications at SOPFEU.

He says another 30 forest firefighters will be hired in 2025.

After a year of training, each forest firefighter will also be able to supervise five auxiliary firefighters — those trained in forestry, such as brush-cutters or tree planters who undergo a week of training to intervene during forest fires.