UA fire that burned 800 hectares of vegetation near Montpellier was fixed on Wednesday but new fires in the Ardèche have already covered 900 hectares and led to evacuations in drought-stricken France.
“The fire in the municipalities of Saint-Bauzille-de-la-Sylve, Gignac and Aumelas is now fixed. No casualties are to be deplored and no dwelling has been affected by the fire”, announced at the end of afternoon the prefecture of Hérault.
The fire which broke out on Tuesday in two different places in a sparsely populated area, covered with holm oaks and vines, burned 800 hectares, said the prefecture which lifted its crisis unit.
As a precaution, some 130 out of 500 inhabitants of the Aumelas sector had been preventively evacuated for the night with the 150 participants in a wedding in the area. On Wednesday, all “were able to return to their homes”, according to the authorities.
In total, nearly 650 firefighters were engaged on this fire supported by significant air resources, Canadairs and Dash.
But in Ardèche, new fires which broke out on Wednesday have already ravaged 900 hectares of land and led to several hundred evacuations. Some 500 firefighters supported by five Canadair water bombers, a Dash plane and a civil security helicopter are mobilized.
These new fires come a few days after the two “exceptional” fires which ravaged nearly 21,000 hectares of forest in Gironde for twelve days and led to the evacuation of some 36,000 people.
In this department of western France, some 500 firefighters are still on site to deal with “the edges and hot spots”, probably for several more weeks, Thomas Couturier, spokesman for the firefighters of the city, told AFP. the Gironde. However, the red vigilance for the risk of fire has been lifted.
One of the department’s symbol sites, the Dune du Pilat, was able to reopen on Wednesday, “in secure conditions and with guided paths”.
“Everyday Heroes”
In this sensitive context, the announcement on Wednesday of the death of a 54-year-old volunteer firefighter, victim of a bacterial infection, who intervened in mid-July on a fire in the south of Avignon aroused many tributes in the class. policy, including that of Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, who praised the commitment of “our everyday heroes” in the Senate.
At the judicial level, “an investigation has been opened into a criminal hypothesis” about the fire in Gignac, said the Montpellier prosecutor, Fabrice Bélargent.
Also in the Hérault, in another investigation for “voluntary damage by fire”, a volunteer firefighter was placed in police custody on Wednesday, witnesses having seen his vehicle near several fire starts in several municipalities in the department. .
In addition to the megafires in Gironde, several fires also affected the south-east of France this summer. 1,600 hectares notably went up in smoke south of Avignon in mid-July.
In the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, a fire which broke out on Tuesday in Rougon, a village perched on the heights of the Verdon Regional Natural Park, had covered 170 hectares of forest on Wednesday.
“The work of this night made it possible to contain the rear of the fire but there is still an active zone on the front left. To treat it, ground actions will be carried out”, indicated at the end of the afternoon. the prefecture, referring to areas “difficult to access”.
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.
In the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, the state of natural disaster giving rise to the right to compensation has been recognized in the municipality of Céreste for “ground movements following drought”.
In Corsica, 1,500 people have been deprived of electricity in Ajaccio where “the intense and cumulative high heat in recent weeks” has caused “breakdowns on the underground electricity distribution network”, said EDF Corse, calling on Corsicans to moderate. their consumption.
27/07/2022 18:37:37 – Montpellier (AFP) – © 2022 AFP