Pyrénées-Orientales firefighters were trying to put out several fires on Tuesday, including a “violent” one that broke out in the town of Opoul-Perillos, (Pyrénées-Orientales) and is moving towards Sales-le-Château, ravaging near of 1,000 hectares of vegetation.
“The wind will soften during the night and the situation is less and less unfavorable,” said the firefighters shortly before midnight, reporting 960 hectares of vegetation burned. For its part, the prefecture stressed on Twitter that the fire remained “active” but no longer threatened homes. No injuries are to be deplored but some 300 people were evacuated from the town of Salses-le-Château, including 81 holidaymakers from a campsite who were welcomed in the multipurpose room, indicated the prefecture of Pyrénées-Orientales in a communicated.
These fires caused the temporary closure of the A9 motorway between Leucate and Perpignan in both directions, as well as the interruption for a few hours of rail traffic between Narbonne and Perpignan. Some 200 firefighters from the Pyrénées-Orientales, and a hundred others who came to reinforce the neighboring departments, were still on site at the end of the evening.
Two other fires “almost under control”
“Thank you to the state services mobilized (…) in the Pyrénées-Orientales to fight against a violent fire”, tweeted the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin.
The fire approaching “quickly” the town of Salses-le-Château and the highway, the A9 was cut between Narbonne and Perpignan, tweeted the prefecture of Pyrénées-Orientales.
In Rivesaltes, about ten kilometers further south, another fire, of lesser magnitude, nevertheless required the intervention of 90 firefighters who evacuated more than a hundred people whose homes were threatened by fire as well as the railway line which has been temporarily cut.
In Saint-Féliu d’Avall, west of Perpignan, another fire broke out along the RN 116. “The axis is cut in both directions of traffic,” said the prefecture. “The situation is almost under control” on these last two fires, said the firefighters, who however maintain staff on site to avoid a resumption of the flames.