The essential
Firefighters are still dealing with two aggressive forest fires in Gironde, where nearly 5,300 hectares have been burned.
The two fires, which mobilized some 1,000 firefighters and ten aircraft, caused no casualties.
Near Avignon, the fire was fixed overnight but is still active.
07:51
“The whole metropolis is on alert”
For Grégory Allione, president of the firefighters of France, we must remain vigilant everywhere in the territory, whose civil security protection system has reached its "limits".
“We are calling for a real policy (…) significant means” in terms of civil security, he calls.
Eleven departments are placed on fire alert.
07:27
The fire south of Avignon fixed but the authorities remain cautious
“The fire is fixed but remains active on the right flank with access difficulties” in the Montagnette massif, two-thirds covered with Aleppo pines located south of Avignon, detail the firefighters.
"Unfavorable event: the mistral will rise for two days", they add.
In addition, the neighboring departments of Gard and Vaucluse are on heat wave alert.
Some 800 firefighters will therefore remain mobilized for at least 24 hours to "ensure daily missions and fire attacks".
This fire, which destroyed at least 300 hectares, started Thursday afternoon from sparks generated on the railway by a freight train which set the vegetation ablaze.
07:15
The Gironde on alert
The two fires that have been raging since Tuesday, in La Teste-de-Buch (2,900 hectares burned), near Arcachon, and in Landiras (2,400 hectares), in the south of the department, were not under control Thursday evening .
But the two fires, which mobilized some 1,000 firefighters and ten aircraft, caused no casualties.
“The situation is unfavorable, with difficult terrain on the ground, wind, high heat,” said the prefect, asking holidaymakers not to approach the sector of the Dune du Pilat, backed by the forest and closed to the public.
07:10
Hello and welcome to this live
Follow with us the evolution of the violent fires raging in Gironde and in the south of Avignon.
