The fires in Ardèche soon fixed, a suspect arrested
The probably arson fire which ravaged nearly 1,000 hectares in the Ardèche on Wednesday, without causing any casualties, should be fixed overnight, nevertheless still mobilizing some 600 firefighters.
At midnight, only one fire was still "
active
", according to Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-Michel Chalancon of the SDIS de l'Ardèche, around the town of Lussas, near Aubenas, on which five separate fire starts were recorded from the morning.
Three other fire starts took place within a radius of 10 km.
This manager explained to AFP that he intended to take advantage of the fall of the wind to “
access all of the edges
” and thus “
create tracks
” for the machines.
The ballet of water bombers over the Ardèche.
JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK / AFP
At the start of the evening, the public prosecutor of Privas had, on Twitter, affirmed that the “
criminal track
” was “
privileged
”.
"
GAV (police custody) in progress
," he also tweeted, without immediately saying how many people were affected.
According to France 3 Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the Aubenas gendarmerie arrested a suspect near a start of fire and found equipment in his vehicle which "
could incriminate him
".
A village threatened by the flames evacuated
At least 350 people were evacuated from the small tourist town of Vogüé and surrounding campsites, near the Ardèche gorges, but the fire did not cause any injuries or threaten homes.
Of the approximately 150 people who left Vogüé for a multipurpose hall in a nearby town, around thirty had however returned to their homes at the end of the evening, because the fire was no longer progressing, and was no longer in danger of reaching the other side of the river. 'Ardèche and its large expanses of scrubland.
"
If the fire jumps, there will be a very significant and very rapid progression
", had previously underlined the prefect Thierry Devimeux.
Locals see the damage, near the town of Vogüé.
JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK / AFP
Read alsoAfter two weeks of fires, the devastated landscapes of France
Between 550 and 600 firefighters remained hard at work during the night, with 5 Canadair and a Dash plane, as well as a hundred intervention vehicles and a civil security helicopter.
"
We did not stop, not stop
" from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., testifies Romain Charbonnier, 22, volunteer firefighter 1st class, who stands with two colleagues not far from a burning tree in front of a charred landscape where the the smell of burning seizes the nostrils.
This night, "
there is a good chance that we will do a lot of 'edge control', we go into the burnt area and we treat everything that is consumed, there is some for the night or even perhaps several days
", abounded at the end of the evening his comrade Lucas Pinelli, 23, also a 1st class volunteer firefighter.
A campsite evacuated in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
Some 400 people were preventively evacuated from a campsite in Castellane in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence in the face of the progression of a fire which has already covered 350 hectares in the neighboring town of Rougon, AFP learned on Wednesday from of the prefecture.
The fire broke out on Tuesday in Rougon, a village perched on the heights of the Verdon Regional Natural Park.
Some 200 firefighters are mobilized to limit the progression of the fire which is still very active in areas difficult to access by land means.
Read alsoThe great forest fires that have marked France since the deadly “great fire” of 1949
"
In view of the progression of the fire, the prefect of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence has activated the departmental operational center (COD) to preventively evacuate part of the Huttopia campsite located in the town of Castellane
", announced the prefecture in the evening, stating that 400 people were evacuated between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m.
"
The installation of holidaymakers in the premises opened by the municipality of Castellane to welcome them is in progress
", it was indicated, referring to a temporary reception at the gymnasium, the village hall and the multi-activity room. from Castellane.
Fire fixed in the Hérault
Earlier Wednesday, a fire that burned 800 hectares of vegetation near Montpellier could be fixed.
“
No casualties are to be deplored and no homes have been affected by the fire
”, announced at the end of the afternoon the prefecture of Hérault.
The prefecture has lifted its crisis unit.
As a precaution, some 130 out of 500 inhabitants of the Aumelas sector had been preventively evacuated for the night.
On Wednesday, all "
were able to return to their homes
", according to the authorities.
Death of a volunteer firefighter
These new fires come a few days after the two “
non-standard
” fires which ravaged nearly 21,000 hectares of forest in Gironde for twelve days and led to the evacuation of some 36,000 people.
In this department, some 500 firefighters are still on site to deal with “
the edges and hot spots
”, probably for several more weeks, Thomas Couturier, spokesman for the firefighters, told AFP.
However, the red vigilance for the risk of fire has been lifted.
One of the department's symbol sites, the Dune du Pilat, was able to reopen on Wednesday, "
in secure conditions and with guided paths
".
Read alsoFire in Gironde: how long can the forest take to regenerate?
In this sensitive context, the announcement on Wednesday of the death of a 54-year-old volunteer firefighter, victim of a bacterial infection, who intervened in mid-July on a fire in the south of Avignon aroused many tributes in the class. including that of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne, who praised the commitment of "
our everyday heroes
" in the Senate .
Several investigations opened
On the judicial level, "
an investigation has been opened on a criminal hypothesis
" about the fire in Gignac, indicated the prosecutor of Montpellier, Fabrice Bélargent.
Also in the Hérault, in another investigation for "
voluntary damage by fire
", a volunteer firefighter was placed in police custody on Wednesday.
