“We do not feel fear, but we apprehend. » A few weeks before the summer season, the same feeling pierces through the discourse of the Girondin firefighters. The summer of 2022 has left its mark: 636 outbreaks of fires, a historic drought and 30,000 hectares of forests devoured by flames in the department.
Traveling to the Cazaux air base, in La Teste-de-Buch, at the heart of last year’s fires, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, announced on April 11 additional resources for the Gironde. . A water bomber helicopter will arrive in June. Four water bombers and a Dash – an imposing civil security plane – will be available from July.
Two Canadair can be prepositioned forty-eight hours before a risk estimated by Météo France. The public service will also publish, from 1er june, a “forest weather” daily, like the weather on the beaches.
“A rush of adrenaline”
At the Gironde technical and logistics group, in Libourne, Staff Sergeant Simon Beseme, 41, is waiting for the repair of one of his trucks. He will never forget last summer. On July 12, 2022, fire broke out in Landiras. The firefighter attached to the Libourne barracks must take his summer vacation five days later. Without an ounce of hesitation, he cancels everything. “We had been told for twenty years that there were going to be fires, we had never been confronted with fires of this magnitude”, he explains.
Firefighters all say it bluntly, the forest fire is the reason they wanted to join the profession. Between fascination for flames and concern to face them, the relationship to fire remains ambiguous. “When you go for a fire, there is always an exciting side, a rush of adrenaline, admits the forties. A fear too, because you never know what you will come across. It sets us up. »
Simon Beseme recounts the first morning of July 13, when many of his colleagues feel helpless – the means are lacking –, while waiting for extra-departmental columns, reinforcements from civil security. “On the first day, we don’t yet realize the impact of the disaster. We have the information as we go, firefighter radio works very well, he quips, referring to word of mouth between firefighters. But we also know that, as it’s dry and windy, it’s going to take very quickly. »
The staff sergeant also remembers July 17, the fight against the flames to defend the campsites of Pyla-sur-Mer. “We spent the whole night fighting the fire. At 7 o’clock, we went to sleep and, when I woke up, around 12 o’clock, I put the news: the campsites had burned down. » The aftermath was also difficult. “We set aside our personal lives, our bodies were tired, we were worn out. » Leave, he could not take any before December. And if the cancellation of the holidays did not delight his companion, she knows that it is part of the job.
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