"We are relieved, we go home and there are no ashes" jubilates Arnaud, 40 years old.
Like around 3,000 people, he is authorized to return to his home in the Pyla-sur-mer district, in the town of Teste-de-Buch (Gironde), evacuated a few days earlier because of the fires which are still raging in the forests in the region.
In total, more than 20,000 hectares of forest have been destroyed.
Information that leaves speechless Romane, 17, who came on a scooter with her little brother to check the extent of the reopened area: “We will be able to warn our parents that the way is free but that there are still roundabouts impossible to 'access".
And for good reason, only households located above departmental 218, north of the Dune du Pilat, are authorized to return.
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If three quarters of the inhabitants evacuated from Teste-de-Buch have had the good news by the prefect Fabienne Buccio, more than 30,000 people are still waiting to be able to return home.
Most of them have been taken in by relatives or charitable souls, but others sleep in the back of their car or on camp beds in emergency accommodation centres, such as the one at the Parc des expositions de la Test.
"To reintegrate the populations, we still need a little patience, a few days at least," explained Fabienne Buccio.
