LThe fire resumed Thursday afternoon, while a 44-year-old man admitted to having caused several fires to start. “We had a resumption of fire this afternoon (Thursday) on the Lussas side with the southerly winds which turned,” Jean-Philippe Ladet, commander of Sdis relief operations, told AFP, referring to a “little plume”. Three groups of firefighters “are on the spot, the area being difficult to access”, he said. Faced with several simultaneous fire starts within a reduced geographical radius, the authorities very quickly evoked an arsonist act.
“As unfortunately we have a situation of significant drought, high heat and then wind, the fire progressed very quickly, gained momentum and progressed southwards in the direction of [du village de] Vogüé, where it is still not fixed, ”declared the prefect of the department, Thierry Devimeux. The firefighters are trying to prevent it from reaching the village and spreading across the Ardèche river where there are large areas of scrubland.
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At least 350 people evacuated
At least 350 people were evacuated from the small tourist town of Vogüé and surrounding campsites, near the Ardèche gorges, but the fire did not cause any injuries or threaten homes. Of the approximately 150 people who left Vogüé for the multipurpose hall of a nearby town, around thirty had however returned to their homes at the end of the evening, because “the fire was no longer progressing”, and was no longer in danger of reaching the other bank. of the Ardèche and its large expanses of scrubland, according to Jean-Michel Chalancon.
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If summers are dry in the South, with global warming, the intensity of these episodes of drought is likely to increase further, according to UN experts. In France, the level of drought has reached a record with 91 departments out of 96 forced to impose restrictions on the use of water.