The firefighters’ battle continues Saturday morning. Firefighters are still fighting the flames in Gironde, hoping to fix the two major forest fires that have ravaged more than 9,000 hectares since Tuesday in La Teste-de-Buch and Landiras, according to the prefecture and the authorities. firefighters.
At Teste-de-Buch, the progression of the fire has slowed down. The burned areas remain “stable”, with 3,150 hectares gone up in smoke, said the prefecture of Gironde in a press release posted on Twitter.
The fire continues to progress
The fire has been “contained but it is still not fixed. We are not going to cry victory because we are still in the fight phase, ”explained Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Mendousse, spokesperson for the firefighters. On the other front in Landiras and Guillos, the situation remained “always unfavorable”, according to him. The fire continues to progress, burning “more than 6,000 hectares, or more than 1,000 hectares since 10 p.m. last night,” the prefecture said.
A fire for which “the criminal thesis is privileged”, according to the prosecution. During the night from Friday to Saturday, no additional evacuations were carried out on the two fires. Since the start of the fires, “nearly 12,000” residents and vacationers have had to leave the premises, the prefecture said in a statement.
“No proven toxicity”
Five emergency accommodation centers and a medico-psychological emergency unit were also opened to support the victims. On the banks of the pond of Cazaux and Sanguinet, fallout from the smoke from the La Teste fire blackened the beaches, photographed by many people, who posted photos on social networks.
There is “no proven toxicity” and swimming “is therefore not prohibited”, said the municipality of Biscarosse on Facebook. On Thursday, “forest fire” vigilance went up a notch in Gironde, which went red (scale 4/5), as in the neighboring department of Landes since Friday morning.
Gironde on alert for heat wave
These fires, which did not cause any casualties, were triggered at the start of the heat wave episode which has affected France since Monday, mainly in the West and the South. The Gironde is kept on orange “heat wave” vigilance by Météo-France, like fifteen other departments.
Friday, the maximum will remain very high in the south with values between 35 ° C and 40 ° C, according to Météo-France.