PARIS (awp/afp) – Like the fires that have ravaged more than 10,500 hectares of pine trees in Gironde since Tuesday, forest fires are a recurring scourge in France.
With its 16.9 million hectares covering 30% of metropolitan territory, the French forest suffers an average of 4,000 fires each year which destroy a total of 11,000 hectares, the vast majority in the southern half of the country (figures from the Ministry of Ecological Transition over the period 2007-2018).
Reminder of major fires that have marked France since the deadly “great fire” of 1949 which had already ravaged the forest south of Bordeaux:
1949: the “great fire”
Starting on August 19 from a sawmill in Saucats, south of Bordeaux, a terrible fire ravaged 50,000 hectares of pines in a few days, killing 82 people in its path.
The victims are mainly water and forest agents, volunteer firefighters and soldiers who came to fight the flames. This “great fire” in the Landes de Gascogne is to date the deadliest forest fire in France.
1976: The Palmyra
The furnace of summer 76, the extreme drought and the gesture of an arsonist transform the forest of La Palmyre (Charente-Maritime) into an instant fire, on August 20, at the peak of the tourist season.
Hundreds of vacationers, stuck between the flames and the ocean, are evacuated from the beach by a noria of boats. That summer, fires burned 80,000 hectares in France, a record.
1989: Lacanau and Marseilles
The month of July 1989, particularly hot and dry, was conducive to the outbreak of fire throughout the south. On July 20, a gigantic fire ravaged 5,000 hectares of pines near the Lacanau pond (Gironde) and forced the evacuation of thousands of holidaymakers.
At the end of August, it was Marseille’s turn to be licked by the flames. On the 29th, 10,000 hectares went up in smoke, in less than 24 hours, in the southeast and in Corsica.
1990: 23,000 hectares destroyed
The summer of 1990 was dreadful for the Massif des Maures: 12,500 hectares were destroyed at the end of August. In total, the fires ravaged 23,000 hectares of vegetation between Marseille and Nice from August 21 to 25.
2003: the Moors and the Esterel
At the end of July 2003, fires of criminal origin ravaged the Massif des Maures (Var), causing the death of four people and leading to the evacuation of 6,000 holidaymakers and residents.
A month later, in Cogolin (Var), three firefighters perished in their truck surrounded by flames. That summer, 20% of the Maures and the Esterel were destroyed.
The 2003 summer season was just as disastrous for Corsica: 13,000 hectares burned and the Cap Corse peninsula particularly damaged.
2009: Corsican drought
A period of drought makes fires dreadful at the end of July 2009 in Corsica. Gravona Valley, north of Ajaccio, Sartène and Aullène regions: more than 5,300 hectares go up in smoke.
2016: at the gates of Marseille
Fanned by the mistral, several fires quickly spread north of Marseille. They arrive on August 10 at the gates of the Marseille city. The fire destroyed 3,300 hectares, 25 buildings, a school group and a high school, fortunately deserted.
2017: refugees in Bormes
At the end of July, in the space of a few hours, a series of fires fanned by violent winds in Haute-Corse, Vaucluse, Bouches-du-Rhône and Var reduced more than 7,000 hectares to ashes.
On July 26, the flames threaten the seaside resort of Bormes-les-Mimosas (Var) and 10,000 people must be evacuated. Hundreds of holidaymakers spent the night in their cars or on the beach to escape the flames.
2021: two deaths in the Moors
A violent fire fanned by a swirling wind set part of the Massif des Maures in the Var, between Cogolin and Le Luc, shortly after August 15.
More than 6,000 hectares go up in smoke in the hinterland of Saint-Tropez, 10,000 people are evacuated and two charred bodies are found in a house in the town of Grimaud.
ot/ber/mpm