Toss in some hobbits and loincloth-wearing fellow with a hankering for fish, and northern Quebec could be the setting for the finale of a fantasy epic.
Yesterday we showed you what the massive forest fires in northern Quebec look like from above, but some YouTube videos show just how terrifyingly Mordor-like the place looks from the ground.
User Maxime Duperré shared two videos taken on July 3 that show tower columns of smoke, flames rising above the treetops and what could have been a close call:
These videos were shot near Nemiscau, Que., a James Bay Cree community.
The area where the fires are burning is home to many other James Bay Cree communities, including Eastmain, which was partially evacuated as the fires spread and now looks like this:
This map from Natural Resources Canada shows where the forest fires are raging as of July 5.
According to CBC News, the fires caused power outages for half a million customers in northern Quebec and Montreal.
Montreal had several days of hazy, smoggy air as the fires’ smoke drifted south. Now places as far east as St. John’s, Nfld. are having a harder time breathing today.