Firefighters battle wildfire near Gracefield, Que.

Wildfires are burning in eastern Ontario and western Quebec. In Gracefield, residents were lucky to avoid having to evacuate. CTV’s Katelyn Wilson reports.

The city of Gracefield, Que., says firefighters are battling a nearby wildfire that began Sunday.

The fire is located near Marks Road in the municipality approximately 100 kilometres north of Ottawa. Firefighters from Gracefield, Kazabazua, and Quebec’s wildfire prevention agency SOPFEU were called to the scene at around 5 p.m. Sunday.

“We have a fire centre in Maniwaki. It has been a focal point of a lot of the firefighting we’ve done in southern Quebec in the last few weeks. It was a few minutes away from this wildfire and we were able to be there quite quickly,” said SOPFEU spokesperson Mélanie Morin in an interview with CTV News Ottawa.

Morin said that due to heavy winds on Sunday, the fire spread to affect approximately 11 hectares of land.

Despite the fire’s proximity, the city said no evacuations were necessary.

“It was pretty scary. Here was all red, red. We could see all the flames,” resident Helene Johnson told CTV News Ottawa.

She said she packed up souvenirs and other irreplaceable items in case she had to leave her home.

“We were wondering if we could stay home or pack up our stuff because we didn’t know,” Johnson said.

“But the fire department came and told us they were watching everything, and they’d tell us if we had to evacuate, but we didn’t have to because the rain came, so that was good, because there was a lot of wind.”

Johnson’s son, Even Johnson Lachapelle, said he had never seen anything like it.

“Never that kind of fire. You could see the mountain pretty much on fire, it was pretty scary,” he said.

‘Several days of work’ ahead

Morin said the rain that arrived has helped, but the fire is not fully out.

“It’s still going to take several days of work because of all the hotspots that remain in the ground,” she said.

Around 15 firefighters were sent out Monday morning to continue efforts to extinguish the blaze while a SOPFEU helicopter flew over to assess the damage, the city said.

“I want to sincerely thank our municipal firefighters, as well as the SOPFEU team, for their exemplary work and their rapid intervention,” said Gracefield Mayor Mathieu Caron in a statement, translated from French.

“The situation is being handled with rigor and vigilance, and we are doing all we can to protect our citizens and our environment.”

The cause of this fire has yet to be determined.

The city says despite Monday’s rain, an open-air fire ban remains in effect in the region.

“We are in a fire ban, not everyone is adhering to it,” Morin said.

“In many cases, unattended campfires, brush burning, cigarettes, because of the dryness that we had, the small, fine fuels that are on the ground, the dead, down leaves, the grasses that are dying out, coupled with the drought conditions that we’ve been experiencing in southern Quebec, it is a situation where a fire could grow quite rapidly.”

She added that Quebec has seen significantly more wildfires this fall compared to the average.

“On average, in Quebec, we have about 40 wildfires in September, October and November. Our season officially ends at the end of November,” Morin said. “This year, 2025, in September, 103 wildfires, in October, as of today, the 20th of October, 124 wildfires. So, well over 200 wildfires that we’ve had, again, all related to the weather, the unusual warm seasonal temperatures that we’ve had, very dry humidity levels and quite strong winds.”

With files from CTV News Ottawa’s Katelyn Wilson

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