Lhe two gigantic fires that have been ravaging the Gironde for seven days have burned 14,000 hectares of vegetation, even going as far as the ocean, according to the latest report from the authorities on Monday, at the dawn of one “of the most difficult days” in due to expected heat records. “The night was difficult, but overall we held on. The surfaces have evolved, but in measured proportions, given the conditions,” Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Mendousse of the Gironde departmental fire and rescue service (Sdis 33) told the press.
On social networks, Internet users have published photos and videos, taken from the sea, of this huge blaze several tens of meters high, devouring the beaches of La Lagune and La Salie, just a few km south of the dune. from Pilat. Since Monday morning, “pleasure boating is also prohibited on the western part of Lake Cazaux-Sanguinet”, specifies the prefecture.
On the second fire in Landiras, inland, the flames burned 9,800 hectares, or a perimeter of 14 km by 9 km, add the firefighters. No injuries or destruction of buildings are to be deplored. There were no new evacuations, further specifies the SDIS 33, which also had to manage “400 interventions in the department”, including “more than 20 wildfires”. On both fronts, 1,700 firefighters were mobilized, supported by water bombers (4 Canadair and 2 Dash). Since the start of operations, 12 firefighters have been slightly injured. In total, 16,000 residents and vacationers have had to pack their bags urgently since Tuesday.
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Three additional aircraft deployed
“Big resources are being deployed in the sector. However, the fire should not reach the Landes department, because the wind should turn towards the west and the north,” Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Mendousse told AFP.
In a press release, the Ministry of the Interior announces reinforcements, with, “as of this evening, three additional planes” to support the six bombers already engaged, as well as “200 additional firefighters […] with 11 heavy trucks”. In the afternoon, a union of civil aviation pilots had asked for more planes and available personnel: “At the time when I speak to you, we don’t have the planes we should have” , told Agence France-Presse Christophe Govillot, spokesman for the National Union of Civil Aeronautics Flight Crew (SNPNAC).
Hell is not over on the west facade, which will be hit from this Monday, July 18 at midday by the scorching peak, and we will have to get used to it. The multiplication of these phenomena is a direct consequence of global warming, according to scientists, with greenhouse gas emissions increasing in intensity, duration and frequency.
This heat wave affects all of Western Europe, also causing forest fires in Spain or Portugal. A firefighter was also killed Sunday in a fire in Losacio, in the north-west of Spain, at a time when the country is fighting numerous forest fires in the middle of a heat wave, announced the authorities of Castille- and-Leon. The authorities deplored the death “during his service” of Daniel Gullon Varas, a civil servant who participated in the “fire-fighting device” deployed in Losacio, in the Zamora region, authorities said on the night of Sunday to Monday. in a statement, declaring a day of mourning on Monday. In the UK, the Meteorological Agency has issued the first-ever ‘extreme heat red’ alert in the country’s history.
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