The fires, which have devastated 1,250 hectares of vegetation since Tuesday June 28 in the Pyrénées-Orientales, were no longer evolving on Thursday morning, a few points remaining under surveillance for fear of a resumption due to the wind, according to firefighters.
Read alsoClimate: increasingly frequent and intense fires in the forest
“
The fire has been fixed, that is to say that it no longer evolves on Opoul.
But it is not yet considered mastered because we have a few trouble spots to deal with.
We remain extremely cautious due to the weather conditions, the wind announced for the afternoon
, ”said a spokesperson for the fire department to AFP.
The main fire, between the municipalities of Opoul-Périllos and Salses-le-Château, about twenty kilometers from Perpignan, devastated 1,150 hectares of vegetation in this sector, where 120 firefighters remained deployed on Thursday.
350 firefighters
Another fire, which broke out the day before near the village of Bélesta and destroyed 80 hectares in this area some 37 km from Opoul, was however considered to be under control and 16 firefighters were still on site.
The four injured firefighters, mentioned by the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, who went to Opoul on Wednesday, were only slightly injured due to smoke inhalation, according to the same source.
Read alsoFires: “Climate change has put firefighters in a wringer”
At the height of the fires, 350 firefighters, including reinforcements from other departments of Occitanie and the South-East, as well as water bomber planes and helicopters, were deployed in the Opoul and Salses sector, where 300 people had also been temporarily evacuated on Tuesday, from a campsite and a housing estate.
The prefect of Pyrénées-Orientales, Étienne Stoskopf, announced that investigations would be opened following the detection of at least eight fire starts on Tuesday alone.
