The images of flames devouring hectares of forest are unfortunately classic in summer. This year, July 27 marks " the start of the season ", in the words of the Directorate General of Civil Security and Crisis Management (DGSCGC), a unit in charge of forest fires throughout the territory.
In Gironde, near the city of Tuzan, about sixty kilometers south of Bordeaux, 295 hectares of pine trees caught fire on Monday July 27 at around 9:30 p.m. following a cigarette butt thrown on the surrounding departmental road. Nearly 200 firefighters and more than 100 trucks were mobilized on site to extinguish the flames.
Read also: Fire in Gironde: more fire development, continuous monitoring
Several hundred kilometers to the north, near Vienne-en-Val (Loiret), in Sologne, 200 hectares of wasteland were also reduced to ashes that same night. More than a hundred firefighters were mobilized to control the fire and thus limit the results to a single material damage.
Read also: Loiret: a fire destroys 250 hectares of forest
High heat and dry soil
“ For some time now we have known a dryness of the soil and the air, so all the elements are there ,” said Tuesday, July 26 Eric Brocardi, spokesperson for the National Federation of Firefighters. Fear shared by the National Forestry Office (ONF). High heat, a powerful wind and a dry land are the elements favorable to a start of fire. It always starts from the ground and rises towards the branches. " The trunks burn very rarely, the flames spread through the tops and brush ", explains the DGSCGC.
The trees have been weakened by the mild winter 2019-2020 and the succession of dry years. The concern of fire professionals is growing with the forecast of scorching temperatures for the last week of July. The Directorate General of Civil Security and Crisis Management (DGSCGC) is therefore particularly on its guard and calls on every citizen to be vigilant.
Responsible humans 9 times out of 10
The year 2019 was one of the most devastating with 23,500 hectares of forests and wasteland reduced to smoke, particularly because of several periods of heatwave. " In a single day, July 25, France experienced 323 fires, " recalls the Directorate General of Civil Security and Crisis Management.
Heat and drought are favorable grounds for starting a fire, but in 90% of cases, it is man who creates the spark. According to the ONF, one in two fires is the result of carelessness. A cigarette butt thrown in the wild or a badly extinguished campfire are the majority of negligence that leads to the destruction of several thousand hectares.
30 minutes to act
“If the fire is not brought under control within thirty minutes, we know that the situation will be complicated, warns the ONF. Afterwards, the fire becomes more violent and more difficult to control. ” The body in charge of public forests, i.e. one third of the French forest estate, joins forces with Civil Security and firefighters every year to inform and warn the population of the risks of carelessness around forests.
Even if the number of declared fires has not decreased for five years, the National Forestry Office takes comfort in the relative success of prevention campaigns: " people are more careful in the south of France because they are well informed " . However, today, no region is spared and the entire territory is a favorable ground for the outbreak of fire. Professionals therefore call for active and collective caution on the part of the French so that the year 2020 is less destructive than the previous year which saw nearly 3,000 fires.