The fire that has ravaged 7,400 hectares of forest since August 9, near Landiras, south of Bordeaux, is “henceforth fixed”, announced on Sunday, the sub-prefect of Arcachon, Ronan Leaustic. The 8,000 evacuees from Gironde will be able to return to their homes on Sunday afternoon, according to Mr. Leaustic, who explained himself to the press:
“Finally the night was favorable to us. We had rather rain and very little wind. (…) These conditions enabled us to establish that the situation was extremely favorable and that the fire was henceforth fixed. »
With cloudy skies, precipitation and temperatures “relatively low” around 25 degrees, the situation improved in the area during the night from Saturday to Sunday, and the firefighters could finally ” to breathe “. “We must have had a dry storm, we had heavy rain”, rejoiced Marc Vermeulen, the director of the firefighters of the Gironde, during the press briefing. However, he called for “the greatest caution”:
“A fixed fire does not mean an extinguished fire: even if the security conditions are met to re-enter the zone, the interior of the forest is not secure. It is strictly forbidden to enter the forest. »
For the sequel, “the weather is favourable, in the sense that there is a decrease in temperatures at least until Thursday”, added Marc Vermeulen. On the ground, the number of firefighters mobilized should drop below 1,000 “in the next few hours”.
The situation is “stabilized” around Mostuéjouls
At least 500 additional hectares burned on Saturday due to a resumption of fire in Mostuéjouls, in Aveyron, announced the prefecture, Sunday August 14, in a press release. In one week, 1,260 hectares of forest were destroyed.
The situation is now “stabilized”after a recovery “virulent” between Saturday and Sunday. “The fire is not yet fixed, but the situation is stabilized. It continues to burn in a perimeter that no longer evolves. He’s under control.”told Agence France-Presse a spokesman for the firefighters of Aveyron, adding that the device was to be reduced on Sunday evening.
“Reinforcements from at least three departments [étaient] arrived around 1 am”Sunday, bringing to six hundred the number of firefighters on site. “Further reinforcements [étaient] expected in the morning” to consolidate the command structure.
Because since Monday, this fire, which caused no injuries, had already required the evacuation of nearly three thousand people. They had since been authorized to return to their homes or places of accommodation when they were vacationers.
On Wednesday, a man residing in Lozère was indicted for “involuntary destruction by fire”. He is suspected of having accidentally started the fire, when a metal part of his trailer caused sparks by scraping the ground, setting fire to the vegetation on the side of the road, on the edge of the Aveyron and the Lozere.
Unheard of in the east of France
In the Jura, more than 1,050 hectares of forest have been reduced to ashes this week, “It’s historic”, according to the authorities. A situation “unpublished” for the firefighters to whom the arrival of precipitation on Sunday, granted a “respite”, according to the prefecture. The Jura has been classified at the ultimate drought level since 1is August, in a situation of « crisis ».
In total, four fires have blackened the massifs of the Petite Montagne du Jura, in the south-east of the department, two of which are still in progress on Sunday. The most important, which began on Tuesday, has since ravaged some 700 hectares in the Vescles and Cernon sector, and has been declared ” fixed “ Sunday afternoon, according to the prefecture, in particular thanks “to a first rainy episode” and drops of retardant products from a Dash aircraft.
A clear situation ” improvement “while, on Sunday morning, the authorities alerted on “a risk of spreading several hundred hectares”. Not far from there, another fire, which broke out on Saturday, near the town of Montlainsia, and consumed 200 hectares of forest, also no longer nibbled away on Sunday. In the Drôme, the fire, which has ravaged 383 hectares of vegetation since August 5, was also fixed on Sunday at the start of the afternoon, the prefecture and the firefighters said.
The precipitation, however, raises fears of landslides in the charred areas, a hamlet having been evacuated as a precaution in Menouille after an emergency expertise carried out by the Geological and Mining Research Bureau (BRGM).
In the Cornod and Sarrogna sectors, the two fires were declared extinguished on Sunday morning. 162 hectares burned there. A total of 279 firefighters are fighting these fires, those of the Jura being supported by reinforcements from six departments in the east and center of the country.
Four Canadair, two water bomber helicopters and Dash planes also supported the ground combat of firefighters, unheard of in eastern France. Farmers have also lent a hand by pumping water from rivers to drown roadsides and prevent the spread.
Emmanuel Macron will bring together the actors concerned at the Elysée
In Brittany, the fire in the Brocéliande forest was also declared ” fixed “, after a major resumption of fire during the night, announced the prefecture of Morbihan, Sunday morning. The fire, which broke out overnight from Thursday to Friday in Campénéac, about sixty kilometers south-west of Rennes, is « sous surveillance active » after having destroyed 400 hectares. One hundred and eighty firefighters remain mobilized.
Emmanuel Macron will bring together all the players from the departments concerned, once the lights have gone out, in order to reflect on the “model of prevention and fight against fires” in France, announced the Elysée on Sunday, confirming information from the JDD.
The Head of State will invite firefighters, reinforcements from overseas and the European Union, farmers and elected officials to ” thank “ and D’“open work on the evolution of the model in the years to come”we added in his entourage, without giving a date.