“More than 1000 hectares” of forest and scrubland were “traversed” this Monday in the Maures massif (Var), north-east of Toulon, by a violent fire fueled by the mistral, according to firefighters in the field.
"It is still too early to assess the surface actually burned," said Commander Delphine Vienco, firefighters of the Var.
# ForestFires |
Significant fire starts in the town of #Gonfaron in the #Var.
Heavy resources are committed.
Be careful and avoid the area of this village.
A fierce fire in the same corridor of fire traversed in the 70s, 80s and 90s and in 2003.pic.twitter.com/Fcr493HUQo
- Firefighters of France (@PompiersFR) August 16, 2021
Referring to "a virulent fire", the prefecture of Var had spoken of "several hundred hectares covered" in a press release earlier in the evening.
But, there had been no evacuation at this stage, according to a source at the prefecture.
🔥 Images showing the refueling of a canadair near #LaLondeLesMaures intervening on the powerful #fire in #gonfaron in the #Var!
❎Air resources are no longer available as night has fallen.
👨🚒Only the hundreds of #firefighters on the ground are battling the flames.
pic.twitter.com/MK5Y6accgF
- C'estCarré 🟩🏖 (@Cest__Carre) August 16, 2021
Faced with this disaster, triggered around 5:45 p.m. at the Sigues motorway area on the A57, around one hundred kilometers north-east of Toulon, 430 firefighters have already been mobilized, assisted by ten. planes -sept Canadairs and two Dash-, three helicopters water bombers and the Dragon 83 of the Civil Security.
🌳🔥 # FeuDeForêt in #Gonfaron (83): 430 firefighters and rescuers are now fighting against the flames on the ground for the night.
🔟 water bomber planes were mobilized until nightfall.
4️⃣ reinforcement columns are in transit, ie 250 personnel.
pic.twitter.com/rdZkVyjsKK
- Civil Security (@SecCivileFrance) August 16, 2021
According to the Var Prefecture, a column of 240 other firefighters should join them on Tuesday, from the Gard, the Alpes-Maritimes, the Alpes de Haute-Provence and the Bouches-du-Rhône.
A departmental operational center was activated in the early evening Monday by the Prefecture.
Four departmental roads closed
Faced with the flames, which traveled some 12 km according to a last tweet from the Var firefighters, or 1200 hectares in total, four departmental roads were closed Monday evening, in the direction of La Garde-Freinet and Grimaud in particular.
Still fueled by a violent mistral at nightfall, when planes and helicopters had to stop their rotations, this fire is one of the largest to have hit the region this summer and could prove to be as destructive as the one that touched the mountain of Alaric in the Aude at the end of July.
The biggest fire of the summer in France, it had devastated some 850 hectares in total according to the latest report.
# ForestFires |
The ground reinforcements continue to converge on the #Var and its barracks, to reinforce the device engaged in the fire of #Gonfaron, as here in #SainteMaxime.
Courage to all the forces involved.
pic.twitter.com/ECmkwkoTy7
- Firefighters of France (@PompiersFR) August 16, 2021
In early August 2020, a fire had devastated 1,000 hectares in Martigues, west of Marseille, in a very touristy area.
At least 2,700 people, including many tourists, had to be evacuated, some by sea.
The mistral which arrived in Provence on Monday fed several other fires during the day, at the gates of Marseille in particular, at the entrance to the Calanques National Park, or in the Var again, towards the Giens peninsula.
These two fires, however, were fixed.
The 25 forest areas closed to access
Preventively, all of the 25 forest massifs of Bouches-du-Rhône are prohibited from access on Tuesday, as are the massifs of the Toulon mountains in the Var.
The very hot weather and the wind caused several very serious fires this summer around the Mediterranean, in Greece, Turkey and more recently in Kabylia, Algeria and Morocco.
Over 700 hectares of forest have been burnt over the past three days in the Cherifian kingdom.
In Spain and Israel, two other countries in the throes of flames, the figures on Monday were respectively 12,000 and 2,000 hectares devastated, in the west-central Iberian Peninsula and near Jerusalem.