Relentlessly fight the July fire which broke out again in Gironde and which the firefighters describe as a “major fire” or out of the ordinary.
This is the objective displayed by the approximately 1,100 firefighters engaged since Tuesday afternoon against the flames fanned by the wind.
According to the latest report from the prefecture of Gironde, more than 6,800 ha have burned since the resumption of fire on Tuesday in the department as well as in the Landes, in the immediate vicinity.
“The fire has spread on all sides and with the rise in temperatures, we have a fire that has exploded in certain places”, explained Wednesday the departmental director of the Gironde fire brigade, Marc Vermeulen.
As Martin Guespereau, the delegate prefect of Gironde and Marc Vermeulen explained on Wednesday during a press conference, "the priority is to protect human lives".
To avoid any disaster, the authorities have once again chosen to evacuate the inhabitants of the areas affected by the flames and smoke.
The fire that firefighters are currently facing is a resumption of the monster fire that blackened 14,000 ha exactly one month ago.
Seven other major fires in the country
After a trying month of July, thousands of firefighters are still fighting new blazes in forests completely parched by heat waves and the historic lack of rain in a summer that will go down in history.
Before nightfall on Wednesday, seven other major fires were burning in France, in Maine-et-Loire, Jura, Drôme, Aveyron and Lozère.
Not to mention countless smaller fire starts every day from north to south.
In all, more than 40,000 ha have burned this year in France according to the government, or rather 50,000 ha according to European satellite data: in any case, this is several times the annual average of the previous 15 years, as in Spain, while summer is not over.
And the rain is not expected before Sunday…
