“We found 10 to 12 ignition spots near the railroad, and we think they might have been ignited intentionally,” said Jacques Nadeau, a spokesman for the Societe de protection des forets contre le feu.
The fire forced about 1,500 residents to leave their homes east of Sept-Iles, about 600 kilometres northeast of Quebec City.
The blaze is under control and evacuees have returned to their homes, which were not touched by the fire.
Meanwhile, a forest fire that tore through Quebec’s Abitibi region is now under control.
The blaze consumed more than 650 square kilometres of forest east of the town of Senneterre, Que., about 500 kilometres northwest of Montreal.
Around 100 people were evacuated from the area and no towns in the region were threatened by the fire.
“We’ll have to work hard on this one, because we don’t know what Mother Nature will bring,” Nadeau said of the Senneterre wildfire.
It will be days or weeks before the firefighters will be able to extinguish it, he said.
“We are waiting for the rain across western Quebec. That will help us,” Nadeau said.
VIA Rail said Sunday that the fire has forced a couple of changes to trains operating between Montreal and Senneterre on Monday and Tuesday.
On Monday, the train originating in Montreal will end its route at La Tuque. There is no alternate transportation for passengers travelling past La Tuque, VIA said.
In the other direction, on Tuesday, the train will originate from La Tuque, not Senneterre.
In Quebec’s Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region, firefighters are trying to contain four forest fires which are burning out of control.
Across Quebec, 750 firefighters are battling 25 forest fires.
More than 100 firefighters from Western Canada and the United States are travelling to Quebec to lend a hand.
A ban on campfires remains in effect along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River heading east to the Saguenay River.