It’s Corsica’s turn to be in flames. A fire has traveled « 450 hectares » of maquis in the commune of Santo-Pietro-di-Tenda in Haute-Corse, Monday 1is August, a fire department spokesman said.
The fire, which was reported to firefighters at 8:40 a.m., had traveled to an area « 450 hectares »at 7.30 p.m., from this town in Haute-Corse located regarding twenty kilometers from Saint-Florent, a seaside village very popular with tourists in the summer.
After fifty-six drops from committed helicopters, sixty from Pelican-type water bombers and six retardant drops, “we can’t say that the fire is fixed but the two edges are in clear decline”said Monday evening Lieutenant-Colonel Thierry Nutti, duty officer of the departmental operational center for fire and rescue in Haute-Corse.
All available air assets deployed
“The particularity 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, who clarified that no “dwelling or operation” was not threatened. Monitoring will take place throughout the night.
All the air resources available in Corsica were deployed 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 seventy men will be helicoptered to work on the edges of the fire, the officer said. On Monday, twenty people were working on the ground.
Unfavorable conditions met
On Monday, three unfavorable conditions were met: a temperature above 30 degrees while a “new heatwave episode” affects Francea humidity level of less than 30% and wind at 30 kilometers per hour with, « par moments »of the “enhanced thermal breeze phenomena”, detailed Lieutenant-Colonel Nutti. Tuesday, the forecast does not foresee any wind, according to the same source.
“In our difficulty today in fighting this disaster, all the conditions of drying of the air and vegetation, temperature and aerology were met so that the fire, even without established wind, might burn, with slope effects, large surfaces »Mr. Nutti commented.
On Saturday, several forests in Haute-Corse had been 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. In the Gard, a fire, fanned by the mistral and the tramontana, destroyed 370 hectares of pine forest on Sunday evening, and four firefighters were injured, one seriously. The fire was fixed overnight.
