The fires have been ravaging part of the forest in Gironde since July 12 and have already burned more than 13,000 hectares.
To fight these fires, firefighters use the method of "tactical fires", that is to say, fight fire with fire.
“It is a question of lighting a secondary fire which will burn part of the vegetation which serves as fuel for the fire and thus help to stop the blaze”, explains Lieutenant-Colonel Nicolas Coste.
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This method is used all over the world such as in the United States or during the gigantic fires in Australia in 2019. This requires training and today in France, there are 120 firefighters capable of using this means to fight fires. forest.
Today, the majority of firefighters trained in this method are more in the south.
"Forest fires, which used to be a specialty of the south of France, risk becoming a generality throughout the territory, since even the northern and central territories are affected by this problem", warns the lieutenant-colonel.
