Firefighters continued their fight against fires in France on Saturday, particularly in the Gironde, Landes and Brittany. Storms and rain are expected from the west in the evening, although it is not yet known whether it will help extinguish the fire.
Strong winds, drafts or heavy rain: these are the scenarios firefighters dread. According to Lt.-Colonel Arnaud Mendez, the long-awaited cold and humidity, along with the risk of flooding, could cause reactions, according to the Gironde’s firemen’s door – in the word, as “the fire could restart” according to civil protection and hurricanes.
Sixteen departments were on heatwave orange alert, but the heatwave will end on Sunday, bringing thunderstorms across most of France.
In Corsica, Météo-France observed ‘strong winds with thunder, in places up to 95 km/h’ overnight. Rainfall accumulations are moderate, with a maximum of 35 millimeters, but very intense, within minutes.
In the Gironde, after a cold morning, the heat returned around 2pm on Saturday, under a sky obscured by a few clouds but without smoke. In the shade of the birches for their lunch break, several Lot-et-Garonne firemen show their small eyes, their job not to control large flames, but to engulf and smoke the still-hot ground.
A more favorable situation
The ‘Landiras-2’ fire has not re-ignited more than 48 hours after destroying 7400 hectares of pine trees, the Meteorological Department has predicted thunderstorms with winds of up to 60 kmph on Saturday evening.
Mr. Mendoza.
Since Friday evening, 1,600 people have been able to return to their homes in Mousty and Sagnac-et-Muret, which was classified as ‘red’ by Bison Feute this Saturday, as authorities reopened the A63, which links Bordeaux to Spain, after it was closed. 20 km from Wednesday.
But “the fire is still active in the west”, warned the editor-in-chief of the Gironde Fabienne Buccio, adding that a thousand firefighters are still mobilized, supported by European counterparts (Germans, Romanians, Poles and Austrians) and four foreign Canadians. .
‘We want to help’
‘Here, we are all volunteers. We’re trained and we want to help,” said 36-year-old German firefighter Don Neuhlfel.
“Guys, we are happy because we know we are helping you,” said Anastasis Tsarioklou, a 36-year-old Greek commander who is on his first tour of duty in France.
In Hostens, in the Gironde, the PC picked up a broadcast of a Spanish hostel, where Romanian colonel Cristian Buhainu promised his 77 firefighters – uniforms with red suspenders, hats and truck ‘bambri’ – were ‘ready to go into the field. ‘.
Record year
In France, three times the annual average of hectares have been burned over the last ten years, and has been the annual record in the European Union since records began in 2006.
Jura was hit by two fires, which destroyed about 660 hectares of forest, and Cernan was declared stable on Saturday morning. In Brittany, it was the legendary forest of Prosiliand, west of Rennes, that saw nearly 400 hectares of smoke. But the fire was no longer “advancing” on Saturday, according to the province.
In Drôme and Ardèche, two fires that destroyed more than 300 hectares are “stable” or “in the process of being corrected” according to authorities. This is the case in Mostujols (Aveyron), where a fire “surrounded and quickly extinguished” on Saturday, totaling 760 hectares, has “prohibited any activity of hunting or destruction with firearms”, the provincial council said. takes place in the midst of nature”.
Faced with this ‘exceptional’ situation, many large French companies have accepted the Interior Ministry’s call to facilitate the release of their volunteer firefighters.
Minister Gerald Dormanin asked chiefs to “be particularly vigilant” or cancel traditional fireworks displays on August 15 due to the “increased risk of fires”.
Fifteen provinces have already received orders banning the use of fireworks, including the North, Pas-de-Calais and Bouche-du-Rhône on Saturday.
Drought
Météo-France warned that the rainfall expected from Saturday evening would not be enough to address the historic drought sweeping the country, which has seen less than a centimeter of rain on average since July. With 35.9 degrees, Brest broke its monthly record for August on Saturday.
In much of France, irrigation is banned, and 73 heads of state have banned water from farmers in all or part of their departments.
Several forest massifs are also off-limits this weekend to reduce fire risk.
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