The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Var: the fire is "not yet under control", 1200 firefighters still mobilized

2021-08-18T05:51:43.185Z


Nearly 7,000 people, including French and foreign tourists, had to be evacuated and spend the night in emergency accommodation. The


The firefighters' struggle continues.

The fire which ravages the Massif des Maures, in the hinterland of Saint-Tropez (Var), "did not progress" during the night according to the firefighters, but 1200 of them are still mobilized this Wednesday to try to put out the biggest fire of the summer in France.

The fire is "not yet under control" specifies the prefecture of Var this Wednesday morning.

"We will carry out the same undermining work as yesterday by dropping water on critical places" told AFP the firefighters' communication officer from the operations command post in the village of Luc (Var) specifying that the fire is not under control at this stage. The water bomber planes and helicopters were to come into action from 7 a.m. Operations are also underway to restore the telephone and electricity distribution networks, writes the Prefect of the Var in a press release Wednesday morning. Access to forest areas remains prohibited.

# FeuxDeForêt |

Wednesday, August 18, all forest areas are at risk of fire 🔥 VERY SEVERE in the #Var.


⛔️Access to all massifs is strictly prohibited.


☎ 18 or 112 to signal the start of a fire


ℹ Massifs map 👉 https://t.co/7rFufjKusd pic.twitter.com/3gdITZza1o

- Prefect of Var (@ Prefet83) August 17, 2021

The prefecture also asked the population on Wednesday morning to avoid the area, and "not to stay near the fire to take photos or videos".

4,000 hectares burned

The fire, which started on Monday near a motorway rest area, covered 6,675 ha and burned 4,000 in this region known for its forests and vineyards, according to the latest firefighters report.

Nearly 7,000 people, including French and foreign tourists, had to spend another night in emergency accommodation structures after being mostly evacuated overnight from Monday to Tuesday.

A few people were also evacuated Tuesday evening from the town of La Garde-Freinet, but there were no other evacuations later in the night, according to firefighters.

Facebook has activated its "SafetyCheck" function for the fires in the Var, allowing you to tell your friends that you are safe.

Read alsoFire in the Var: "It will take at least ten years to find the landscapes"

President Emmanuel Macron greeted on Tuesday the "courage" of the hundreds of firefighters, rescue forces and local elected officials engaged in the battle against the flames.

"The worst has been avoided", the fire having caused no casualties at this stage despite its speed and virulence, he said.

In the Aude this week too, two fires broke out.

The first was mastered on Tuesday, and the second, in Bizanet, covered 60 ha, and was still active on Tuesday evening.

France had so far been relatively spared from the fires which devastated thousands of hectares and claimed dozens of victims in several Mediterranean countries, from Turkey to Algeria.

Source: leparis

All life articles on 2021-08-18

You may like

Trends 24h

Life/Entertain 2024-03-28T17:17:20.523Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.