In the area of the worst French forest fire of the moment, near Landiras, in the South-West, 1,100 firefighters are fighting a fire day and night, supported “from dawn” according to the authorities, by German and then Romanian firefighters .
See as well : With the firefighters of Sdis 33 who are fighting the flames in Gironde
The latter form part of the contingent of 361 firefighters, including Poles or Austrians, supported by Italian, Greek and Swedish Canadair, who came as reinforcements. In a large area around Hostens (Gironde), the fire ravaged 7,400 hectares of forest in two days and forced 10,000 people to leave their homes, sometimes for the second time in a month. Already in July, 14,000 hectares had burned in this area.
If the thick smoke dissipated Friday morning, giving way to a blue sky flecked with clouds, the fact remains that the fire is “still active” and extends over 40 km, according to the sub-prefect of Arcachon Ronan Léaustic. The fire “has not evolved but the weather conditions encourage us to be extremely vigilant”.
“The day (Friday, Editor’s note) is likely to be complicated since the temperatures continue to rise, and the hydrometry continues to drop”, he added.
On Friday, temperatures on site should reach 37°C, after 41°C on Thursday.
“Thank you for our homes”
The Jura (East), with a normally more moderate climate, has in turn been affected since Tuesday by two fires which have devoured around 660 hectares of forest. And the fires are still raging in Isère (center-east), in Ardèche, in the Drôme (south-east) … Not to mention countless departures of smaller fires every day from north to south.
A fire even broke out overnight in the Brocéliande forest (north-west), a high place in Arthurian legend, destroying 230 hectares of vegetation. Two Swedish water bombers arrived as reinforcements to help fight the fire, according to local authorities.
“We are all firefighters, and we understand the situation. It must be really hard to fight fires of this duration and of such magnitude,” said Simon Fritz, a professional firefighter who arrived from Bonn in the Southwest.
On site, several evacuated homes displayed tokens of gratitude – “Thank you for our homes” or “Thank you firefighters” painted on white sheets.
Faced with this “exceptional” situation, several large French companies have taken measures to facilitate the release of their volunteer firefighters, responding to the government’s call.
“It’s like California, it’s gigantic … yet there is a culture of forest fire” locally, told AFP, eyes circled, Rémy Lahay, professional firefighter for 20 years. “But there, we are overwhelmed everywhere.”
The drought prevailing in the region and the scorching temperatures, combined with very dry air, still create a “very severe risk of fire outbreak”, according to the prefecture.
In all, more than 40,000 hectares have burned this year in France according to the government, or 50,000 hectares according to European satellite data: this is in any case several times the annual average of the previous 15 years, as in Spain, while the summer is not over.
Rain not expected before Sunday in France
And the rain is not expected before Sunday in France.
In central Portugal, the same spectacle of desolation: more than 1,500 firefighters were mobilized on Thursday to put out a forest fire which has been ravaging the Serra da Estrela natural park for several days, destroying some 10,000 hectares, according to data Europeans.
One of the effects of climate change is that heat waves will multiply, lengthen and intensify. Scientists estimate that in Europe, the death toll from heat stress could double or even triple, depending on the extent of global warming over the course of the century. The current heat wave in France began on July 31 and is the third of the year, after those of late June and mid-July. Added to this is a month of July classified as the driest month since March 1961.