Hundreds of people, including 225 inmates from a high-security prison, were evacuated due to wildfires in Canada on Sunday at the start of the summer fire season, according to local authorities.
A state of emergency was declared locally on Friday as forest fires threatened the town of Port-Cartier. The federal penitentiary center of Port-Cartier, located approximately 500 kilometers northeast of Quebec City, was evacuated along with a thousand residents over the weekend.
Some famous convicts have been transferred
The prison has housed some of the country’s most notorious convicts, including several serial killers. It was closed and the inmates “were transferred from the affected area to other secure federal penitentiary establishments”, specifies Anne Kelly, head of the Canadian penitentiary administration. Further north, 750 employees working on a hydroelectric dam in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador were also displaced. The plant provides electricity to several regions.
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Fires hit the country hard in 2023 from east to west, burning more than 15 million hectares. They cost the lives of eight firefighters and prompted the authorities to evacuate more than 235,000 people.