Some 650 firefighters were still mobilized on Tuesday August 16 to neutralize the many hot spots which continued to burn on the perimeter of the vast Landiras fire, which ravaged 7400 hectares of pines and whose prosecution dismisses a recovery “
of criminal origin
”.
Of all the firefighters mobilized, nearly half are part of the European contingent deployed on site as part of the European Union's civil protection mechanism, created in 2001, according to the firefighters.
Among them, 146 Polish "
strazacy
" make a strong impression with their "
very rigorous
" work and their 21 deployed vehicles.
Also present are 141
German and Austrian “
Feuerwehrleute
” and 77 Romanian “
firefighters ”.
A reinforcement all the more appreciated “
to provide the maximum work of security
” before the expected rise in temperatures next week.
Privileged criminal thesis
"
Our mission now is to extinguish the hot spots, to continue the work on the edge and to secure the tracks to avoid a new resumption of the fixed but not yet controlled fire
", explained to AFP the lieutenant-colonel of Sdis of Gironde Laurent Pham, specifying that the fire “
continues to burn underground, in peat soil
”.
Read alsoFires: 26 suspected arsonists arrested since the start of the summer
In the evening, 21 Polynesian firefighters are also expected on site, soon joined by firefighters from Reunion and Mayotte.
Regarding the resumption of this fire on August 9, "
no element allows us to lean towards a criminal origin
", the Bordeaux prosecutor's office also told AFP on Tuesday.
Read alsoFires: the fire near Landiras in Gironde is “now fixed”
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin had indicated that he suspected an act of arsonists for this same fire because eight very close fires had started in the morning.
On the other hand, the criminal thesis is always privileged concerning the first departures of fires in the sector in mid-July.
A judicial investigation has been opened on the criminal counts of "
destruction by fire
".
According to the public prosecutor Frédérique Porterie, three other investigations have also been opened for fires "
of criminal origin
" which broke out in the municipalities of Soulac, Vensac and Blanquefort.
