Aude: a fire burns 800 hectares of vegetation, power cuts to Portugal

A fire traversed Saturday 800 ha of vegetation in the mountain of Alaric (Aude) after having resulted in the evacuation of 90 inhabitants of the town of Fontcouverte, according to the prefecture and the firefighters.

"The working conditions are very difficult because of the drought of the vegetation and the strong wind," said Commander Jean-Michel Dubois, of the Departmental Fire and Rescue Operational Center (Codis) of Aude.

🔥 Aude: A virulent fire broke out in the early afternoon along the A61 at #Moux, spreading rapidly to the Alaric massif.

The fire has traveled 500 hectares and is heading this evening towards the town of Fabrezan

(📹 Agnes Lilou La) https://t.co/mBsmXaIqvL pic.twitter.com/EsniFHmPwO

- Alexandre (@alex_le_bars) July 24, 2021

The fire also caused electricity cuts for nearly an hour during the afternoon for 88,000 homes around Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales) and 19,000 homes around Biarritz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques).

The Spanish and Portuguese networks were also affected after "the Iberian Peninsula was disconnected from the European electricity grid", reports the RTE electricity transmission network.

The fire broke out in the early afternoon for an unknown reason on the central median of the A61 between the towns of Moux and Foncouverte, said the same source.

Dozens of residents evacuated

Ninety people from a district of Foncouverte, threatened for a time, had to be evacuated as the fire front progressed.

🌲🔥 # FeudeForêt de #Moux still in progress

👉 800 ha burned

Many resources mobilized

🔥Fire difficult to control with the night and the wind pic.twitter.com/7qJ14LYIVf

- Prefect of Aude (@ Prefet11) July 24, 2021

At the beginning of the evening, and while the fire covered 800 hectares of vegetation in this massif which rises to 600 meters, no less than 500 firefighters were at work, the 300 firefighters of the Aude quickly received the reinforcement of 200 firefighters from neighboring departments.

🌲🔥 Following the unfavorable development of # FeudeForêt de #Moux, many resources are committed in support of the 270 firefighters of @ SDIS11OFFICIEL

-7 #Canadair, 2 #Dash, 2 #Beech & 1 water bomber helicopter

- 9 reinforcement columns including 2 extra

-

zonal

- 75 firefighters pic.twitter.com/6jzGuAJqE0

- Civil Security (@SecCivileFrance) July 24, 2021

Seven Canadair, two Dash-type water bombers and a Super Puma helicopter support the ground resources until nightfall, Codis 11 further indicated.

Human and material reinforcements from Hérault, Bouches-du-Rhône, Auvergne and the South-West should arrive overnight to fight this fire, the largest in the region since the beginning of summer. .