Slowed down by the action of the firefighters and by a wind “loaded with humidity”, the fire which ravaged nearly 3,700 hectares of vegetation and forest in Saumos in Gironde, was “contained but not fixed” on Wednesday…
Map of Gironde showing the new fire in Saumos and the areas already burned in July and August in the department (All rights reserved. © (2022) Agence France-Presse – Sylvie HUSSON)
Slowed down by the action of the firefighters and by a wind “laden with humidity”, the fire which ravaged nearly 3,700 hectares of vegetation and forest in Saumos in Gironde, was “contained but not fixed” Wednesday evening, causing a new evacuation of a thousand inhabitants.
“We are on a contained fire on its perimeter for the moment. It is not fixed, it is contained, ”said the sub-prefect of Lesparre-Médoc, Fabrice Thibier during a press briefing on Wednesday evening.
A resident helps fight the fire in Saumos, Gironde, September 13, 2022 (All rights reserved. © (2022) Agence France-Presse – PHILIPPE LOPEZ)
“We have a wind which is loaded with humidity this afternoon and which has surely led to the spread being weak”, added the sub-prefect, warning against the “numerous resumptions of fire, on land which is green, in the forest” and against “a wind that continues to blow” during the day.
Firefighters in Saumos, Gironde, September 13, 2022 (All rights reserved. © (2022) Agence France-Presse – PHILIPPE LOPEZ)
For the night, a “potentially not very virulent” wind and “average temperatures” are expected, said Gironde firefighter spokesman Thomas Couturier.
Firefighters in Saumos, Gironde, September 14, 2022 (All rights reserved. © (2022) Agence France-Presse – Thibaud MORITZ)
In total, 1,840 inhabitants, including a thousand evacuated during the day on Wednesday, had to urgently leave their homes in the two municipalities of Saumos and Sainte-Hélène, in this area of southern Médoc, between the seaside resort of Lacanau, on the Atlantic coast, and the Bordeaux conurbation.
Most have been relocated with relatives or about fifteen kilometers away, in the small town of Castelnau-de-Médoc (4,800 inhabitants), where civil protection and local volunteers have been organizing the reception of evacuees since Tuesday, in a room where a buffet, a giant screen, board games and many camp beds have been installed.
On site, Marlène, a mother present with her three children, her dog and guinea pigs explains that she “prepared a small suitcase” the day before, because “I had the example of the fires of this summer in mind. “.
“I admit that we are not very serene all the same. It’s getting closer every day, with the winds turning so I don’t know what it’s like, so we’re stressing, ”slips AFP Corinne, another 45-year-old evacuee.
Throughout the day, a thousand firefighters helped by teams from the Defense of Forests Against Fires (DFCI) and by six canadairs, three Dash planes and two water bomber helicopters dealt with “21 resumptions of fire”, to slow down this fire which is ravaging this sparsely populated area, but “did not progress towards Saint Helena” on Wednesday.
Since Monday, 3,700 hectares have been burned, in addition to some 30,000 already ravaged since July by three gigantic fires in the department, in La Teste-de-Buch and Landiras twice, which occurred in a summer marked by a historic drought.
A judicial inquiry has been opened into the origin of the fire. “No track is ruled out even if the criminal thesis is privileged”, according to the Bordeaux prosecutor’s office. “An investigation team is on site. All options are on the table. You have to be careful about the rumors that are going around, ”said the sub-prefect for his part.
In the south in the region, in the Basque Country, “in a context of exceptional drought”, a fire burned about fifteen hectares of the border massif of La Rhune, mobilizing around forty firefighters, a water bomber helicopter Spanish as well as three Canadairs and two Dash planes arrived as reinforcements, indicated in the evening the prefecture of Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
According to the authorities, “the fire is located in an inaccessible place but with a very weak progression and the weather remains favorable”.
During the day, two other fires also burned ten hectares in Saugon, 50 km north of Bordeaux, before being quickly fixed, indicated the prefecture of Gironde in a press release, recalling that the Saumos fire “remains active, in particular in due to strong winds.
This new blaze occurred in a context of high heat, with a monthly record recorded Monday in Bordeaux (37.5 degrees), unheard of in September since 1987 according to Météo-France.
It brings back sad memories to the inhabitants: a gigantic fire (3,500 hectares) had already ravaged the area in July 1989, between Lacanau and Le Porge.
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