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Fires: 7400 hectares burned in Gironde, Europe flies to the aid of France

2022-08-12T05:50:57.388Z


UPDATE ON THE SITUATION - The country is plagued by several violent fires. In the Jura, Ardèche or Isère, the fires are in progress.


The country has been facing several fires since the first weekend of August, reinforced by a new wave of heat which is accentuated this weekend.

The Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, and the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, went Thursday to Gironde which faces the resumption of the gigantic fire of Landiras.

Several other departments, such as Aveyron or Jura, also have to fight against several fires.

Le Figaro

takes stock.

Gironde: Europe is mobilizing

Europe is flying to the aid of France to help the firefighters who have been fighting relentlessly for two days against the spectacular resumption of a fire in Gironde and in the Landes, where the first reinforcements arrived from Germany on Thursday.

A total of 361 European firefighters took the road to southwestern France to support the 1,100 firefighters who are fighting night and day a resumption of fire from the gigantic Landiras fire (14,000 hectares already burned in July).

1,100 firefighters fight night and day a resumption of fire from the gigantic Landiras fire.

Thibaud MORITZ / AFP

The chaotic fire has ravaged 7,400 ha of parched forests for two days now and forced 10,000 people to leave their homes, sometimes for the second time in a month.

Thursday afternoon, 65 German firefighters and 24 vehicles arrived.

Dozens of other firefighters are expected in the coming days with their trucks from Romania, Poland and Austria.

On site, several evacuated homes displayed tokens of gratitude - "

Thank you for our homes

" or "

Thank you firefighters

" painted on white sheets.

Read alsoNuclear production threatened by drought

"

It's like California, it's gigantic ... Yet there is a culture of forest fire

" locally, confided to AFP, eyes circled, Rémy Lahlay, professional firefighter from La Rochelle, 20 years of career, "

but there, we are being overwhelmed from everywhere: no one can expect that

".

A total of eight water bombers (6 Canadairs, 2 Dash) and two helicopters were mobilized for this second day of fighting marked by new outbreaks of fire, particularly in Saint-Symphorien (Gironde).

The European Commission has announced the dispatch of four planes from the EU's firefighting fleet from Greece and Sweden to meet France's request.

And other "

battles

" await the firefighters in the coming hours, in particular for the safeguard of the forest town of Belin-Béliet but also the defense of the A63 motorway between Bordeaux and Bayonne, which is at a "

dangerous distance from the fire

”, even if it has been partially reopened to traffic.

Aveyron: the fire fixed, most evacuations lifted

The fire that broke out on Monday in the villages of Rivière-sur-Tarn and Mostuéjouls, in Aveyron, is now fixed, allowing most of the evacuees to return home on Friday, the prefecture said Thursday evening.

Thanks to the effectiveness of the actions carried out tirelessly since Monday evening by the firefighters, the fire was set at 9:40 p.m. over the entire area

”, wrote the prefecture of Aveyron in a press release.

The fire is now fixed.

Valentine CHAPUIS / AFP

Most of the evacuated housing can be reinvested from Friday, specifies the prefecture, with the exception of four localities in the municipality of Mostuéjouls.

Thursday evening, according to the firefighters, more than 750 hectares of vegetation, in particular coniferous forests, had been traversed by the flames, often in areas difficult to access between the Causse de Sauveterre and the Tarn gorges.

500 people had to be evacuated as a precaution from their homes and several campsites in the area on Wednesday evening.

Already in the night from Monday to Tuesday, 3000 people had been evacuated.

The fire caused no injuries.

On Wednesday, a man residing in the department of Lozère was indicted for "

involuntary destruction by fire

".

He is believed to have accidentally started the fire, when a metal part of his trailer caused sparks as it scraped the ground, setting fire to the vegetation on the side of the road.

Jura: one fire slows down, the other fixed

Two forest fires have devoured around 660 hectares since Tuesday in the south of the Jura, where the progression of one of the fires could be “

slowed down

” while the other is “

fixed

”, announced Thursday the prefecture.

At the end of the afternoon, the spread of the fire in the sector of the municipalities of Vescles and Cernon was slowed down thanks to the mobilization of firefighters and farmers

” who lent them a hand, indicates t she in a statement.

Read alsoDrought: “We never thought we would be affected like this”, the disarray of municipalities that lack water

At 10:30 p.m., it is estimated that nearly 500 hectares

have been burnt, added the prefecture, which reported in a previous press release that 300 hectares had been ravaged for this single fire.

The entire town of Cernon

”, where a power outage “

related to the fire

” affects 173 households, was evacuated preventively and around “

250 people were sheltered, with a reception proposal

” on the nautical base of the neighboring town of Bellecin, according to the same source.

Two water bomber helicopters carried out 110 airdrops.

Jean-Philippe KSIAZEK / AFP

The evacuees will be informed "

when the security conditions are met to allow their return home

", specifies the prefecture.

In a previous press release, she had described "

a cloud of smoke, visible for several tens of kilometers, covering a large part of the south of the department

" and accompanied by a "

burnt smell that may inconvenience the inhabitants of the area

".

During the afternoon, "

air resources

" made it possible to "

slow down the spread

": two water bomber helicopters thus carried out 110 drops, "

allowing to cut off the advance of the fire and significantly reducing the volumes of smoke

" .

At 7:00 p.m., four canadairs arrived on the fire zone and refueled on Lake Vouglans

”, carrying out “

23 drops of 6000 liters

”, according to the prefecture.

Their strikes were concentrated on the head of fire, in order to allow the teams on the ground to intervene this night and continue the extinguishing operations

”, she specifies.

The other fire, located about twenty kilometers to the south-west, in the Cornod and Vosbles-Valfin sector, is now fixed, after having reduced 160 hectares to ashes.

A total of 153 firefighters are mobilized, from the Jura and reinforced by elements from Ain, Côte d'Or, Doubs, Haut-Rhin, Moselle, Saône-et-Loire and Yonne.

New reinforcements from the departments of Ain, Doubs, Haute-Marne, Haute-Saône, Saône-et-Loire, Territoire de Belfort arrived late Thursday afternoon, specifies the prefecture of Jura.

These two fires are "

the largest since the 1990s

" in the Jura, according to firefighters.

The department has been classified at the ultimate drought level since August 1, in a “

crisis

” situation.

Ardèche: 200 hectares in smoke, the fire in progress

The fire continues to progress in Ardèche near Vallon-Pont d'Arc in Lagorce.

200 hectares burned.

Two Dash planes are mobilized.

A campsite was evacuated as a precaution

, ”said the prefecture of the department.

250 firefighters with external reinforcements are mobilized and several roads have been closed so as not to hinder the intervention of the emergency services.

Drôme: 291 hectares burned, the fire not yet under control

The forest and vegetation fire which broke out on Friday evening in the Drôme made little progress on Wednesday and Thursday and the burned area now amounts to 291 hectares, the firefighters said.

Caused by lightning and located on the Diois massif in the town of Romeyer, the fire "

has changed very little during the day but is not yet fixed

", Lieutenant-Colonel Ramon told AFP on Thursday. Navarro, senior management officer of the SDIS (departmental fire and rescue service) of Drôme.

No homes were evacuated by the 320 firefighters of the device, who were busy "

surrounding the fire

" to prevent it from reaching the surrounding towns and hamlets.

Three sectors were particularly watched: the northern sector, the southern sector and the forward (western) sector.

Tactical fires were practiced to put the fire on already burned ground to prevent it from spreading and a heavy helicopter, which made 90 drops of 4000 liters of water on Tuesday, was on Wednesday.

Monday evening, a Gard firefighter who came as reinforcements was burned in the face.

Two other firefighters, one from Gard as well, as well as a Drôme, inhaled smoke.

All three were able to leave the hospital

” on Tuesday,

Vosges: 30 hectares burned, fixed fire

In the Vosges, the fire which burned 30 hectares of forest between the municipalities of Mortagne and Brouvelieures, is now fixed, said Thursday the prefecture of the department.

In the evening, she announced in a press release her decision "

to ban the use of fireworks throughout the department for a period of 15 days

", as well as the sale of firecrackers.

Isère: a new fire in the town of Vif

"

A plant fire is underway in the town of Vif

", on the foothills of the Vercors massif south of Grenoble, said the department's firefighters.

The other fire in the town of Voreppe on the Chartreuse side, triggered by lightning and which ravaged a hundred hectares, was brought under control.

The fire is under control and circumscribed, not extinguished.

90 firefighters and 27 machines on the ground for the flooding and treatment of fumaroles

, ”said the Isère prefecture on Twitter.

Friday, hottest day of the week

A taste of 2050: the third heat wave of the year in France reached its peak on Friday with between 38 and 41°C in the country, a heat which exhausted the hundreds of French and now European firefighters engaged from east to west on multiple fires.

Read alsoDrought: the distress of owners whose house cracks

In the area of ​​the worst French forest fire at the moment, near Landiras, in Gironde, it should still be 37°C on Friday, after 41°C on Thursday, where 1,100 firefighters are fighting day and night.

The sun will be scorching over the whole country on Friday, with 19 departments from the south-west to Finistère placed in heat wave orange vigilance by Météo-France.

The long-awaited rain, by the firefighters as by the other inhabitants, will arrive by thunderstorms Friday evening on the Alps and the Pyrenees, but only from Saturday evening on the rest of France.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2022-08-12

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