Fire fixed in the southern sector of the Monts d'Arrée
The "
situation is under control in the northern sector
" and the fire "
fixed in the southern sector
" of the Monts d'Arrée, in Brittany, where 130 firefighters and 40 firefighting machines were still present on Sunday morning July 24, a announced the prefecture of Finistère.
“
This morning, the situation is under control in the northern sector and the fire is fixed on the southern sector
,” the prefecture said on Twitter.
Nearly 130 firefighters and 40 firefighting machines are still present on site, according to the prefecture, which emphasizes that “
the site is subject to extreme vigilance and permanent surveillance
”.
On Saturday, a Dash water bomber plane arrived as reinforcements was able to make six drops in the area during the day, and made it possible to "
fix all the fire
" located in the southern sector in the town of Brasparts, a difficult area to access by land means, recalled the prefecture.
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Thursday, the prefecture had announced that the fire in the Arrée mountains was "
under control
" and that the situation was "
totally stabilized
", but four new outbreaks had reactivated due to unfavorable weather conditions, in particular the wind.
The prefecture had reported a total burned area of "
1725 hectares of vegetation composed of moors, fir forests and deciduous trees
". Since the resumption of the fire, 46 hectares have also burned.
The Quimper prosecutor's office opened two investigations into these fires on Wednesday, including one for "crime of willful destruction by fire".
Fire also fixed to the Teste-de-Buch...
After 11 days of exhausting fight against the flames, the fire which ravaged 7000 hectares of forest in La Teste-de-Buch, near the Arcachon basin, was "
fixed
" on Saturday.
"
All residents evacuated
" preventively from La Teste-de-Buch are now "
allowed to return to their homes, with the support of the national police
", also announced the prefecture in a press release.
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According to firefighters, a fire is "
fixed
" when they think it will not grow any further.
It is then “
controlled
”, then “
extinguished
” and must then be “
monitored
”.
... but not in Landiras
In Landiras, about forty kilometers south of Bordeaux, the other big fire which burned 13,800 hectares of forest is "
not yet fixed
", "
because of the risk of resumption
", specified the prefecture on Saturday.
This fire is still considered “
contained
”.
"
About thirty homes remaining active, the surveillance of this massif, the treatment of the edges and the resumption of fire as well as the civil engineering work are continuing
", according to the press release.
"
The situation continues to improve
," said the prefecture.
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Two Canadairs and two forest fire attack helicopters remain mobilized while 1,300 firefighters were still hard at work on Friday on the two sites, even if now "
columns of extra-zonal firefighters are gradually returning to their department
".
If all the evacuees from the La Teste-de-Buch area can now return home, which some had been authorized to do on Thursday by the prefecture, a little less than a third of the 16,000 people evacuated from municipalities in the area of Landiras have yet to be given the green light to return.
But “
the authorities continue to study sector by sector (their) possibilities of reintegration
”, assures the prefecture.
21,000 hectares of forest devoured in Gironde
In total, these "
megafires
" have devoured nearly 21,000 hectares of forest in Gironde since July 12 and forced more than 36,000 inhabitants or holidaymakers to evacuate their accommodation, including 6,000 holidaymakers evacuated from campsites in the very touristy Dune du Pilat who then were destroyed by the flames.
The fires caused no casualties, authorities said.
