The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Fires in Gironde: the blaze starts again, more than 13,000 hectares burned and 16,200 people evacuated

2022-07-17T20:45:42.374Z


The fires regained ground in the evening this Sunday. Some 2,100 people were evacuated in the commune of Cabanac-et-Villagrai


The fire regained intensity this Sunday evening in Gironde in a France crushed by heat.

Nearly 13,000 ha of vegetation have burned since Tuesday and new evacuations were underway in the town of Cabanac, in the Landiras sector.

According to the firefighters, these new preventive evacuations bring to 16,200 the number and holidaymakers who have had to pack their bags urgently since the start of the fires.

In La Teste-de-Buch, where 3,900 ha of forest have burned, “the situation is deteriorating”.

The fire has reached the sea and is progressing south, said the prefecture, which calls for “extreme caution”.

On social networks, Internet users have published photos and videos, taken from the sea, of this huge fire "30 m high" devouring the beach of the Lagoon, south of the Dune du Pilat.

Terrible fire, 30 m high, uncontrollable on the #Lagune beach.


With the storms this fall and this winter, the coastline will further retreat enormously (25 m in 2022).#Cazaux #LaTestedeBuch #Biscarrosse pic.twitter.com/2sLOAkjVQi

– Lebob (@Bob_le_Popa) July 17, 2022

Towards Landiras, 9,000 ha went up in smoke in the district of Langon.

“The situation remains critical and is deteriorating, with the fire spreading on different fronts due to changing winds.

Work to create firewalls is continuing, ”announced the prefecture.

Some 2,100 people in the town of Cabanac-et-Villagrains were evacuated this Sunday afternoon, bringing to 6,200 the number of people evacuated since Tuesday.

“Two new accommodation centers have been opened in Langon, and that of Saucats has been closed,” said the prefecture of Gironde.

#FeuxDeForets 🔥 Update at 9 p.m. on the fires in #Gironde



▶️ Nearly 13,000 hectares of forest burned


➕ 16,000 people evacuated



Additional resources committed tonight: 3 planes, 200 firefighters and 11 heavy trucks



➕ info 👉 https: //t.co/JOJdCmGrbL pic.twitter.com/TvW0dfgI3F

– Prefect of New Aquitaine and Gironde (@PrefAquitaine33) July 17, 2022

“Big resources are being deployed in the sector.

However, the fire should not reach the Landes department because the wind should turn towards the west and the north”, reported Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Mendousse.

The next few hours should be “the most difficult”

The next few hours promise to be "the most difficult" that the firefighters will have to face since the start of the fires.

“The fire is very, very virulent.

The weather conditions are extreme: the temperature, the wind, the humidity: all the parameters are the worst possible”, underlined the spokesperson for the “pessimistic” firefighters.

Since the start of the Girondin fires, the total area gone up in smoke represents the area of ​​Paris, "i.e. 105 km2", according to the engineer specializing in computer data processing, Guillaume Rozier.

“The forest is a major asset.

What is happening here is undoubtedly an environmental disaster.

It requires that we not only shed tears but that we take solutions behind it, ”said Senate President Gérard Larcher this Sunday morning, who came to meet the firefighters at the operational command post of La Teste-de- Buch, before going to Landiras.

Three additional planes

On both fronts, 1,200 firefighters were mobilized on Sunday, supported by water bombers (3 Canadair and 2 Dash).

The Ministry of the Interior announced reinforcements in the evening, with “as of this (

Sunday

) evening, three additional planes” to support the six bombers already engaged, as well as “200 additional firefighters (…) with 11 heavy trucks ".

In the afternoon, a union of civil aviation pilots had asked for more planes and available personnel.

Given the evolution of the situation with 360-degree winds, I have decided to strengthen the means of fighting forest fires in Gironde: as of this evening, 3 additional planes (9 in total), 200 firefighters ( 1700 in total) and 11 heavy trucks will be deployed.

pic.twitter.com/wrkXI6PLbc

– Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) July 17, 2022

Hell is not over on the west facade, which will be hit on Monday at midday by the heatwave peak.

15 departments have been placed in "red vigilance" heat wave.

The alert recommends that the inhabitants of the areas concerned observe "absolute vigilance" in the face of "dangerous phenomena of exceptional intensity" and concerns the following departments: Charente, Charente-Maritime, Côtes-d'Armor, Dordogne, Finistère, Gers, Gironde, Ille-et-Vilaine, Landes, Loire-Atlantique, Lot-et-Garonne, Maine-et-Loire, Morbihan, Deux-Sèvres and Vendée.

Read also“What we are experiencing is akin to crossing the Atlantic”, how the firefighters organize themselves

Fifty-one departments are also in orange vigilance (which means "be very vigilant") and the rest of France - with the exception of Corse-du-Sud - is in yellow ("be attentive").

Monday could be one of the hottest ever recorded in France.

“In some areas of the Southwest, it will be a heat apocalypse,” said François Gourand, forecaster at Météo France.

Source: leparis

All tech articles on 2022-07-17

You may like

News/Politics 2024-02-29T08:24:23.467Z

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.