Inevitably, the fires that ravage part of the Gironde recall the fire of 1949, the largest forest fire that contemporary France has known, and which destroyed 50,000 ha of pines south of Bordeaux, in a few days, also claiming 82 victims. The two hearths which were triggered – one accidentally, the other, probably of criminal origin – Tuesday afternoon in two separate places in the department, continue to burn this Saturday, encouraged in their excess by the heat and the drought , despite the scale of the means deployed to overcome it.
More than 10,000 ha burned and unstable conditions
3,279 ha of forest burned in La Teste-de-Buch, near the Arcachon basin, at 5 a.m., according to the map released in the early afternoon by the Gironde prefecture. According to her, the firefighters and the mayor, Patrick Davet, the situation is stabilized this Saturday afternoon. Nevertheless, the fire is not fixed, which means that it may risk progressing, pushed by still present winds and in the midst of dry vegetation. Between late Friday morning and late Saturday morning, the Departmental Fire and Rescue Service (Sdis) intervened on 22 fire starts. “We are still, and it is a satisfaction, at 3,150 ha burned, but the fire is still not under control”, declared to the press the sub-prefect of Arcachon Ronan Léaustic, who greeted the ” enormous intensity and mobilization” of the firefighters in the night “to keep this perimeter”.
“Today, we maintain the head of fire but (…) we are not immune to a recovery. The head of fire is held in particular on the south, which prevents it from progressing towards the Landes ”, detailed for his part Lieutenant-Colonel Olivier Chavatte of the departmental fire and rescue service (Sdis). “We have almost 30 km of edge so it’s a titanic job”, he underlined.
This Saturday at the beginning of the afternoon, 7,000 ha had burned in Landiras and Guillos where the situation is very “unfavourable”, according to the prefecture: the fire spread towards the southwest, winds push the fires further in this direction. Between Friday 10 p.m. and Saturday 8:30 a.m. alone, 1,000 ha were reduced to ashes. “The fire tower is about 40 km. We have a fire which over its greatest length is 10 km, over its greatest width 9 km ”, detailed Vincent Ferrier, sub-prefect of Langon during a press briefing.
Evacuations resume
It was the good news when we woke up: no additional inhabitant had to be evacuated on Friday evening and during the night, and even 450 families had been able to recover their personal effects in the five campsites evacuated from the Dune du Pilat sector. The respite did not last long: the authorities proceeded this Saturday afternoon to the evacuation of 1,500 inhabitants of Hostens, Saint-Symphorien, Cabanac-et-Villagrains and Tuzan.
This will bring to nearly 14,000 the number of people, residents or vacationers, who have had to take refuge with friends or in one of the accommodation centers made available by the municipalities. A medico-psychological emergency cell was activated, it toured the centers of La Teste-de-Buch and the number to reach someone, 24 hours a day, was widely distributed.
In Cazaux, the inhabitants will be able to pick up their pets and some belongings, but it is out of the question to linger, at the risk of endangering their lives and those of the rescuers. Faced with the concern of the inhabitants that their property is robbed, the gendarmes have set up checkpoints, which also make it possible to block certain roads, deemed dangerous or absolutely necessary for the firefighters.
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1,200 firefighters mobilized
They were a thousand on Friday. In total, 1,200 firefighters are mobilized this Saturday on the two fronts, Landiras and La Teste-de-Buch. Reinforcements are on the way from Hauts-de-France in particular. Four water bombers (3 Canadair and a Dash) are currently flying over the areas, which disperse water, which retardant products. Since Tuesday evening, according to Civil Security, more than 1,200 drops have been carried out.
Many bulldozers are also used to carve “defense lines” in the Landes forest, hoping that the flames will dry up at this natural border, for lack of fuel. Problem: the flaming pine cones react like bombs and, propelled by their boiling sap, can project themselves several tens of meters, recreating a start of fire on the other side of the trenches thus arranged.
Temperatures will rise again
These fires were triggered at the start of the heat wave episode which has affected France since Monday, mainly in the West and the South, where the maximum will remain very high, with values between 35 ° C and 40 ° C, according to Météo France. The Gironde is kept on orange “heat wave” vigilance by Météo France, like fifteen other departments. 37 to 39 ° C are expected in the department this Saturday afternoon in Gironde, with peaks of 40 ° C in the Landes, and up to 42 ° C on Sunday.
The heat wave will continue at least until Tuesday morning, with a rise in mercury along the Atlantic coast, to the north of New Aquitaine.
A worrying situation in other departments
If reinforcements are flowing into Gironde, there is no question of weakening the fire defenses of other regions, particularly in the South-East where the greatest vigilance is required, with Météo France predicting a resumption of the Mistral at 40 -50 km/h, turning south on Sunday. Firefighters from Savoie thus went to support their colleagues from Bouches-du-Rhône in the Montagnette massif, near Tarascon and Graveson; a fire started Thursday afternoon by the passage of a train which would have generated sparks. It covered 1,300 ha and was stable on Saturday morning.