Emmanuel Macron affirmed on Friday the “mobilization” of state services and thanked the firefighters and elected officials who are fighting fires, particularly in Gironde, during a visit to the Operational Center for Crisis Management (Cogic).
“We are mobilized” and “we will continue to hold out”, assured the Head of State after greeting the officials of Cogic, based at the Ministry of the Interior, in the company of Minister Gérald Darmanin.
We are living through an exceptionally tough season. We already have three times more forests that have burned than in 2020 after a very dry spring.
Emmanuel Macron
While 16 departments are placed on heat wave orange vigilance by Météo France, fires continued to rage in Gironde, without causing any casualties, some 7,300 ha went up in smoke in two gigantic blazes, one south of Bordeaux, the another in the forest backed by the dune of Pilat.
European reinforcement
Emmanuel Macron praised “the remarkable work” of the firefighters “at the front”, prefects and elected officials who “are very mobilized”. “We are at their side”, he added, indicating that he had “a thought” for “the thousands of our compatriots who have been displaced in recent days”, with “the anguish that goes with this situation”.
Since Tuesday, more than 10,000 people have been evacuated from campsites near the Dune du Pilat and the town and military base of Cazaux in Gironde.
The President also welcomed the fact that France could “benefit from European solidarity” within the framework of the European Civil Protection Mechanism (MEPC), “which we have set up and to which we have contributed” in recent years. He “in particular thanked Greece, which put in the fight” devices, which arrived Friday morning, as well as Spain and Italy.