Who could have imagined that Brittany would one day need a supply base for water bomber planes?
However, it is thanks to the pelicandrom of Vannes (Morbihan) that the air firefighters were able to recharge their device with a retardant product when fires broke out in the region.
Activated for the first time on July 18, the site was reactivated on the 23rd to deal with the resumption of fires in the Arrée mountains (Finistère).
1,725 ha of moors burned there in July.
“Previously, the fires were rather localized in France in the South-East and the South-West but when we find ourselves like in mid-July with a mercury at 41 ° C in Saint-Brieuc
(Côtes-d'Armor), the risk of fire now concerns many other regions, from Brittany to the Vosges via Île-de-France, "explains the spokesperson for Civil Security, Alexandre Jouassard. .
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Drought in France seen from the sky, from Brittany to the Gorges du Verdon
Nearly 50% of moors and forests in mainland France could thus be affected by a high risk of fire (compared to a third in 2010).
Hence the choice of Civil Security to have several supply bases for its water bomber planes north of the Loire: in Brittany, in the Somme and in the Vosges.
If the northern forests are more exposed, the period at high risk of fire is now increased.
Very exposed Seveso sites
“Winter fires should multiply”, predicts the information report, presented this Wednesday by four senators and devoted in particular to “the extension” of the risk of fires in France.
Due to increasingly long and intense drought episodes, wildfires, crop and stubble fires, including in peri-urban areas, are also expected to increase.
What give cold sweats to the prefects who monitor like milk on fire the industrial sites classified Seveso (the most dangerous) in their departments.
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Because, according to a study by the climate risk analysis company Callendar, unveiled in mid-July, three quarters of the 316 French Seveso installations, located near wooded areas, will be exposed to a high fire risk for at least ten days. per year by 2050, compared to a third in 2000.
According to this report, the risk of fire near these storage facilities for chemicals and hazardous substances will increase by 50% within 30 years.
If the south-east of France will remain the most exposed region, “the risks will increase substantially in the center and the south-west as well as in the Paris region”.