Gironde: nearly 1,200 hectares of forest ravaged by 2 fires



Lhe two fires which started on Tuesday July 12 afternoon in Gironde, in Landiras and near the dune of Pilat, leading to thousands of evacuations, had ravaged 1,200 hectares of pines on Wednesday morning, according to a latest report from the prefecture of Gironde. 445 hectares were burned in La Teste-de-Buch, near the Dune du Pilat, and 800 hectares in Landiras, about forty kilometers south of Bordeaux, according to a press release.

The fire, which led to the evacuation of 6,000 people staying in 5 campsites in the very touristic area of ​​Pilat, was “not fixed” on Wednesday morning, commander Laurent Dellac, from Codis Gironde, told AFP. refers to a “difficult operational configuration”. The people evacuated as a precaution were directed to the exhibition center and to the shopping mall of a hypermarket in La Teste-de-Buch, added the prefecture in a press release, specifying that “no injuries are to be deplored” .

The Red Cross and civil protection are on site, she said. The departmental road D218 is also cut between the Pilat roundabout and Biscarrosse plage. A hundred motorhomes parked in the area were also evacuated, according to firefighters. Near Landiras, the fire had ravaged 800 hectares on Wednesday morning, according to the prefecture.

Five hamlets and the village of Guillos, around 500 people, were evacuated as a precaution on Tuesday evening, also without injuries to deplore. The departmental roads D115 and D125 have been closed. The prefecture specifies that nearly 600 firefighters are engaged on these 2 fires, helped by 2 Canadair and 2 Dash planes. Additional national reinforcements are expected in the morning.

Orange alert for forest fires

In the Landiras sector, about forty kilometers south of Bordeaux, 800 hectares have gone up in smoke since Tuesday 4 p.m. on “complicated terrain” and by a “swirling wind”, which makes the intervention difficult and forces the firefighters to a “constant redeployment” of their means.

The other ongoing fire broke out around 3 p.m. on Tuesday on a forest road in the town of La Teste-de-Buch, near the Pilat dune in the Arcachon basin. The land, “dune” and planted with old pines, is difficult to access, but devoid of dwellings, with the exception of a few cabins in the forest, according to firefighters. The Gironde prefecture on Tuesday placed the department on forest fire orange vigilance (high vigilance / level 3 out of 5), “in view of the weather conditions [un épisode caniculaire, NDLR] expected in the next few days.

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