VIDEO. Fire in Isère: "I had 20 minutes to evacuate"

"I saved the essentials: the family, the children, the animals...".

Leaning against his car on the side of the road, Franck has his eyes riveted on the flames ravaging the forest overlooking his hamlet.

"I can't do anything but watch.

So I'm watching, "he lets go, helpless, explaining that he had" twenty minutes to evacuate ".

Since Friday, a fire has been gaining ground in the municipalities of La Baisse and Voreppe, in Isère.

Triggered by lightning, it has already nibbled away 80 ha.

Faced with the deterioration of the situation, 140 inhabitants were evacuated as a preventive measure.

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“Four Canadair-type planes and two planes to disperse retardant product will be mobilized and a reconnaissance plane arrives in the area,” the prefecture said in a press release.

270 firefighters and 65 vehicles are also on site to fight the flames.

The violent wind and the blazing zone, difficult to access, complicate the action of the firefighters.

“All operational resources, including extra-departmental means, were mobilized throughout the night throughout the disaster area,” said a senior firefighter officer from Isère.

“It is an operation that will inevitably last over time, notes Commander Philippe le Tourneur, firefighters.

We see it because from time to time it calms down, regularly outbreaks resume, arise and develop in places that are often unexpected.

Once the fire has been brought under control, the site will therefore be subject to special surveillance during the weeks to come.

Access to the evacuated area is now completely prohibited in order to allow the next intervention of the Canadair.