A fire “inaccessible“to the ground teams traveled on Monday August 1st”450 hectares“Maquis in the town of Santo-Pietro di Tenda in Haute-Corse, without threatening housing, told AFP a spokesman for the fire department.
This fire, which was reported to the firefighters at 8:40 a.m., had covered an area by 7:30 p.m.of 450 hectares» on this commune of Haute-Corse located about twenty kilometers from Saint-Florent, a seaside village very popular with tourists in summer.
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“it is completely inaccessible to terrestrial means”
“We cannot say that the fire is fixed but the two edges are in clear regression“Said Lieutenant-Colonel Thierry Nutti, Codis 2B duty officer, on Monday evening, after 56 drops from engaged helicopters, 60 from Pelican-type water bombers and six drops of retardant. “The peculiarity of this fire is that it is completely inaccessible to land means, in a steep geographical area where there is no activity other than a little hiking“, added the officer, specifying that no”dwelling or farmwas threatened. Monitoring will take place throughout the night.
On Monday, three unfavorable conditions were met: a temperature above 30 degrees Celsius, a humidity rate below 30% and wind at 30 km/h with “Sometimes“, of the “enhanced thermal breeze phenomena“, detailed the officer. Tuesday, the forecast does not foresee any wind, according to the same source. “In our difficulty today in fighting against this disaster, all the conditions for the drying of the air and the vegetation, the temperature and the aerology were met so that the fire, even without established wind, could burn, with slope effects, large surfaces“, indicated Thierry Nutti.
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All the air resources available in Corsica were deployed on Monday and were in action until the beginning of the evening: two planes and two water bomber helicopters. A Dash aircraft also arrived as reinforcements to drop retardant. Tuesday morning, the helicopter intervention detachment (Dih) of Brignoles (Var), specialized in work in difficult to access areas, will operate in the area with three helicopters and 70 men will be helicoptered to work on the edges of the fire , he specified. On Monday, 20 people were working on the ground. On Saturday, several forests in Haute-Corse were closed due to a severe risk of fire and the affected area was considered “dangerous“For this risk, the authorities inviting not to go there.
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