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Fires: beginning of calm before the arrival of rains and thunderstorms this Saturday

2022-08-13T06:57:23.035Z


UPDATE ON THE SITUATION - The impact of thunderstorms on ongoing fires remains difficult to predict, however, as strong gusts can be problematic for firefighters.


The heat will continue to rage on Saturday over a large part of France, before the arrival in the evening of thunderstorms and rain from the West, bad weather which could help firefighters still fighting fires in Gironde and in the Landes.

Twenty-eight departments are placed on orange alert by

La Chaîne Météo*

, from the South-West to Finistère.

But this heat wave should end on Sunday, with thunderstorms over most of France.

However, the impact of thunderstorms on ongoing fires remains difficult to predict, in particular due to the risk of strong gusts which can be problematic for firefighters.

The fire contained in Gironde and in the Landes

A month after the two gigantic fires of Landiras and Teste-de-Buch in Gironde, the resumption of fire of "

Landiras-2

", as the firefighters call it, has not seen any progress for more than 48 hours after having ravaged 7400 hectares of pines.

Friday evening, the inhabitants of certain sectors of the Landes municipalities of Moustey and Saugnac-et-Muret were authorized to return to their homes, and, on this Saturday classified as “red” by Bison Futé, the authorities decided to reopen the A63, which connects Bordeaux to Spain, closed since Wednesday on a portion of 20 km.

But "

the fire is still active on the west side

“Warned the prefect of Gironde Fabienne Buccio, recalling that a thousand firefighters were still mobilized, supported by German and Romanian colleagues, bridgeheads of a contingent of 361 firefighters, also including Poles and Austrians.

Firefighters from Europe and Polynesia in support

We are all volunteers here.

We are trained, we want to help

, ”confided Tone Neuhalfel, a 36-year-old German firefighter who said he faced a fire that was “

very impressive

” and incomparable to those he had already seen in Germany.

At the Mérignac air base, near Bordeaux, two Italian Canadairs and 2 Greek Canadairs arrived on Friday morning.

We are happy because we know that we are helping you, friends

said Commander Anastasis Sariouglou, 36, who is on his first mission to France.

In Hostens, in Gironde, where the PC had taken on the air of a Spanish inn, the head of the detachment, Romanian Colonel Cristian Buhaiànu, assured that his 77 firefighters - uniforms with red straps, caps and flocked "pompierii" trucks - were "

ready to go out into the field

”, soon joined by 21 Polynesian fire soldiers.

They arrive from the other side of the world to come and support their comrades who are fighting the flames in Gironde: thank you to our firefighters in Polynesia for their solidarity.

Mauruuru!

(thank you in Tahitian), tweeted President Emmanuel Macron in the afternoon.

A record year in terms of hectares burned

In France, three times more hectares burned than the annual average for the past ten years, and the year has been a record in the European Union since records began in 2006. Even the Jura, with its normally more moderate climate, has been struck by two fires.

In Brittany, a fire destroyed nearly 300 hectares on Friday in the Brocéliande forest west of Rennes.

At the end of the afternoon, it was "

two-thirds contained

" according to the prefect of Morbihan, Pascal Bolot.

In Ardèche, the fire, which ravaged at least 320 hectares, has been “

fixed

”, announced the department prefecture on Friday afternoon, adding that 150 to 200 firefighters remained mobilized.

Faced with this "

exceptional

" situation, several large French companies - Carrefour, Orange, EDF, Axa, Auchan and GRDF have taken measures to facilitate the release of their volunteer firefighters, responding to the call from the Minister of the Interior. Gerald Darmanin.

Friday evening, the minister also asked the prefects to "

be particularly vigilant

" or even to cancel the traditional fireworks of August 15 because of "

increased risk of fires

".

The drought continues

The precipitation, expected from Saturday evening, will be insufficient to remedy the historic drought that the country is going through, warned Météo-France, after a month of July where less than one centimeter of rain fell on average.

Storms "

will fall on very dry soil, with fairly significant risks of runoff

" which do not allow water to be absorbed and increase the risk of flooding "

and the risk of hailstones

", warned Claire Chanal, forecaster, during a press briefing on Friday evening.

Over a large part of France, it is forbidden to water and 73 prefects have even banned water withdrawals from farmers in all or part of their departments.

*The Weather Channel belongs to the Figaro group.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2022-08-13

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