The fire which has ravaged 650 hectares since Thursday in the Cévennes “can no longer progress”, but it remains under close surveillance with, however, a reduced device for the night from Saturday to Sunday, after a day marked by a single resumption of fire .
“At this point, the fire is set. It is considered that he can no longer progress. We have therefore passed the critical phase”, announced on Saturday morning Lieutenant-Colonel Eric Agrinier, communication officer for the Gard firefighters, by reducing the mobilized system to 520 firefighters and 150 vehicles “for the day in order to continue the treatment of several kilometers of edges”.
On Saturday evening, Commander Jérôme Jallet announced to AFP a new reduction in the system, with the maintenance of some 350 firefighters on the ground. “We only had one resumption of fire today, and a few hot spots which were quickly dealt with,” he explained. But if “the outbreaks have decreased in intensity, the weather conditions remain worrying in the area”, insisted this Gard firefighter, recalling that temperatures around 40 degrees with gusts of wind and unfavorable hydrometry were recorded during the day.
“For the night, we are told 40 km / h of gusty winds, temperatures around 20 to 25 degrees and hydrometry (percentage of humidity in the air) still low, 30%, which remains critical even if we have reached 13% in the afternoon”, indicated Commander Jallet: “As long as there are hot spots and we are not sure of the weather conditions, the wind, that there is swings of fire, we cannot say that the fire is under control, ”he insisted.
3,000 liters of water airlifted
Leaving the hamlet of Bordezac around 5 p.m. Thursday, this disaster mobilized up to 950 men, but there were no casualties. On Saturday, the firefighters had air support, in particular to “deal with inaccessible hot spots with surgical strikes from helicopters”, according to the expression of Lieutenant-Colonel Agrinier.
During the day, the firefighters also used a Heliskid, a 3,000 liter water tank that can be lifted by helicopter into an area inaccessible to vehicles. Equipped with a motor to send pressure into the pipes, this unique tool in France, which only the Gard firefighters have, has thus enabled them to deal as closely as possible with certain hot spots that are difficult to access.
In addition to this fire, the Gard department, hit daily by numerous fire starts – more than 30 on Friday, 28 on Thursday – was generally placed under close surveillance. Saturday, in Saint-Christol-lès-Alès, the massive commitment of three forest fire intervention groups supported by a water bomber helicopter thus made it possible to spare a campsite and a leisure activity park threatened by an outbreak of fire on plants and to limit the damage to 5,000 m2.
Civil security calls for caution
Thursday, another fire had ravaged 230 hectares towards the town of Générac, in the south of the department. This same town had been affected by a serious fire in August 2019, which had burned 800 hectares and caused the death of the pilot of a water bomber plane in an accident. Now fixed, the fire in the Cévennes is fortunately far from the approximately 5,000 hectares devoured by fire in 1985 a few kilometers away, towards the town of Portes.
This year, the biggest fires in France affected the military camp of Canjuers (Var) at the end of June, with 1,800 hectares burned, and the Pyrénées Orientales, also at the end of June, with 1,250 hectares gone up in smoke. Overall, the Directorate General of Civil Security recommended great caution until Sunday throughout “the Mediterranean area”, “due to a very high danger of fires”.