Barely a week after a first series of devastating forest fires in the Gard, it is in Gironde that another front of fires is opening. In twenty-four hours, 1,200 hectares were ravaged by flames in La Teste-de-Buch, in the arrondissement of Arcachon, and 1,500 hectares of pine forest in Landiras south of Bordeaux, in the arrondissement of Langon.
The first fire, declared yesterday at 3:15 p.m., would have started from a vehicle fire, according to the departmental fire and rescue service (SDIS) of Gironde; information which has not yet been confirmed, since an “investigation is in progress”, specifies, cautious, the sub-prefect of Langon, Vincent Ferrier. “The fire is still not under control, the situation is unfavorable with an extremely virulent head fire, and we have an extremely unfavorable factor of changing, turning winds”explained the lieutenant-colonel of the firefighters, Olivier Chavatte, in the middle of the afternoon.
In Landiras, where a smaller fire had already ravaged 6 hectares on July 7, it is a new outbreak of fire, in the same place, this time started on July 12 in the afternoon. “The difficulty we have is that the fire can come out under the peat at any time”, worries Vincent Ferrier. With the arrival of reinforcements from other departments, expected by this evening, a total of 900 firefighters are mobilized in the face of two major difficulties: very unfavorable weather conditions with a rotating wind, high temperatures and terrain very dry and sandy, but also the simultaneity of the fires. The fires at La Teste-de-Buch and Landiras, even if they are not linked, remain quite close and make operations more difficult for firefighters.
Five campsites, a village and evacuated hamlets
Four Canadairs are deployed, as well as two Dash planes. “We received columns from Occitania, Limousin, the Loire Valley…”, explains Mr. Ferrier. No injuries have been reported so far on the civilian side. A few firefighters were taken from a “heat stroke without gravity, specifies the commander Matthieu Jomain, head of the communication of the SDIS Gironde, and they were taken care of “before returning to the front”. On July 12, Météo-France placed the Gironde on heat wave orange vigilance, and the prefect, Fabienne Buccio, put the department on orange vigilance regarding the risk of forest fires from the next day, July 13.
If access to the Dune du Pilat was closed to the public and three departmental roads were cut off to traffic, several evacuations took place that night. Five campsites located near the dune were emptied as a precaution: in total, 6,000 holidaymakers were moved to the La Teste exhibition center. According to Lieutenant-Colonel Olivier Chavatte, “No one will be able to return to the campsites by this evening, or even tomorrow. And as far as additional evacuations go, it’s a bit early to decide.”
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