A month after the two gigantic fires of Landiras and Teste-de-Buch in Gironde, the resumption of fire of “Landiras-2”, as the firefighters call it, did not progress, Friday August 12, after having ravaged 7,400 hectares of pines.
The inhabitants of certain sectors of the Landes municipalities of Moustey and Saugnac-et-Muret were authorized on Friday to return to their homes, and, on this Saturday classified as “red” by Bison Futé, the authorities decided to reopen the A63, which connects Bordeaux to Spain, closed since Wednesday on a portion of 20 km.
Most “the fire is still active on the west side”warned the prefect of Gironde Fabienne Buccio, recalling that a thousand firefighters were still mobilized, supported by German and Romanian colleagues, bridgeheads of a contingent of 361 firefighters, also including Poles and Austrians.
Reinforcements also from Polynesia
“We are all volunteers here. We are trained, we want to help”confided Tone Neuhalfel, a 36-year-old German firefighter who said he faced a fire ” very impressive “ and incomparable to those he had already seen in Germany.
At the Mérignac air base, near Bordeaux, two Italian Canadairs and 2 Greek Canadairs arrived on Friday morning. “We are happy because we know we are helping you, friends”said Commander Anastasis Sariouglou, 36, who is on his first mission to France.
In Hostens, in Gironde, where the PC had taken on the air of a Spanish inn, the head of the detachment, Romanian Colonel Cristian Buhaiànu, assured that his 77 firefighters – uniforms with red suspenders, caps and flocked “pompierii” trucks – were “ready to go to the field”soon joined by twenty-one Polynesian fire soldiers.
“They arrive from the other side of the world to come and support their comrades who are fighting the flames in Gironde: thank you to our firefighters in Polynesia for their solidarity. Mauruuru! » (thank you in Tahitian), tweeted President Emmanuel Macron in the afternoon.
The expected arrival of thunderstorms and rain from the west on Saturday evening could help firefighters still fighting these fires in Gironde and the Landes, even if the impact of thunderstorms remains difficult to predict: “They can have the opposite effect, causing strong gusts and wind shifts which can increase the danger [et sont] very problematic for firefighters, highlighted Romaric Cinotti, wildfire referent at Météo-France.
“Increased risk of fires” with the fireworks of August 15
In France, three times more hectares burned than the annual average for the past ten years, and the year has been a record in the European Union since records began in 2006. Even the Jura, with its normally more moderate climate, has been struck by two fires. In Brittany, a fire destroyed nearly 300 hectares on Friday in the Brocéliande forest west of Rennes. By late afternoon it was “two-thirds content” according to the prefect of Morbihan, Pascal Bolot.
In Ardèche, the fire, which ravaged at least 320 hectares, was ” fixed “announced Friday afternoon the prefecture of the department, adding that 150 to 200 firefighters remained mobilized.
In front of this situation “exceptional”, several large French companies – Carrefour, Orange, EDF, Axa, Auchan or even GRDF have taken measures to facilitate the release of their volunteer firefighters, responding to the call of the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin. On Friday evening, the minister also asked the prefects to“to be particularly vigilant” even to cancel the traditional fireworks of August 15 due to “increased risk of fires”.
Historic drought
Because the heat will continue to rage on Saturday over a large part of France, before the arrival of bad weather in the evening. The heat wave should end on Sunday with thunderstorms over most of the territory, accompanied by heavy localized precipitation. But these will be insufficient to remedy the historic drought that the country is going through, warned Météo-France, after a month of July when less than one centimeter of rain fell on average.
Storms “will fall on very dry soils, with fairly significant risks of runoff” which do not allow water to be absorbed and increase the risk of flooding “and the risk of hailstones”warned Claire Chanal, forecaster, during a press briefing on Friday evening.
Nineteen departments from the South-West to Finistère remain on heatwave orange vigilance, but this heat wave should end on Sunday, with thunderstorms over most of France, including Corsica, placed on storm orange vigilance.