The investigators are formal: "no element allows to lean for a criminal origin" of the resumption of the gigantic fire of Landiras on August 9, indicated the parquet floor of Bordeaux this Tuesday.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin had however indicated that he suspected an act of arsonists for the resumption of this same fire, which has already ravaged 7400 ha of pines since mid-July, 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 fire 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.
650 firefighters still mobilized
Some 650 firefighters were still mobilized on Tuesday to neutralize the many hot spots that continued to burn on the perimeter.
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.
In the evening, 21 Polynesian firefighters are also expected on site, soon joined by firefighters from Reunion and Mayotte.
"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 Lieutenant-Colonel of Sdis de Gironde Laurent Pham, specifying that the fire “continues to burn underground, in a peat ground”.
The prefecture of Gironde however announced on Tuesday in a press release that the department, classified as “red” vigilance for the risk of forest fires since July 31, was returning to orange vigilance.
"The weather forecasts indeed suggest more favorable conditions in the coming days", specified the prefecture, even if "the risks of forest fires remain very significant in the department due in particular to the state of drought of the massif" .