The firefighters have attacked relentlessly with each resumption of fire since the beginning of the morning, the black plume overhangs the dunes and is now observed for miles around. Behind the smoke screen, we can see the ballet of the Canadairs trying to tame flames several meters high which reached the edge of the ocean south of La Teste-de-Buch, in Gironde. It is a little less than 4 p.m., Sunday July 17, and from the crowded beach of Moulleau, in Arcachon, there is no longer any doubt: the fire which is ravaging the forest is not under control, and it is increasing in number. intensity.
At 6 p.m., eighty kilometers away, in the Landes forest near Landiras, Commander David Brunner is patrolling the departmental road 110 between the villages of Villandraut and Origne, in the midst of an agonizing crackle. “Disappointed”, he observes the flames nibbling the trees from top to bottom, generating an opaque cloud in front of the sun which crushes the Gironde under more than 40°C. And under the effect of a wind that does not weaken, they progress quickly. The captain picks up his radio: “The fire is 200 meters away [d’Origne] and there are no means on the spot. » While he asks for the redeployment of firefighters to protect the houses of the village, evacuated for several days, another voice announces on the airwaves yet another outbreak of fire further in the forest. “It never stops, I’ve never known a fire like that”, admits Commander Brunner, a firefighter in the department for more than thirty years.
On one side or the other, the soldiers of the fire know that they are not at the end of their sentences. On Monday, reinforcements in personnel, vehicles and Canadairs are expected to cope with the 44 ° C announced. These temperatures will only fuel the two blazes that more than 1,200 firefighters have been trying in vain to contain for days. The flames have ravaged 13,000 hectares of forest in less than a week and continue to grow. Very few buildings were affected and no casualties were reported, but firefighters are anticipating a very long fight against the elements.
The maritime pines characteristic of the large massifs of the department are full of resin and highly flammable. If we add to that the wind, the drought that has been setting in for months and the scorching temperatures, all the conditions are met to make the Gironde forests a powder keg. “Two fires of this magnitude and this virulence at the same time in a department is a first in Gironde, and even in France”underlines Fabienne Buccio, prefect of the department.
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