France will benefit from European reinforcements to help firefighters fight the fires that are multiplying in parched forests. The Landes and the Gironde are particularly affected, where Elisabeth Borne went on Thursday.
In addition to the resumption of the gigantic fire of Landiras, the fire which broke out on Monday in Aveyron was still active on Thursday followingnoon, forcing 500 holidaymakers and residents of Rivière-sur-Tarn and Mostuéjouls to be evacuated on Wednesday evening.
One of the two forest fires which have ravaged more than 330 hectares in the south of the Jura since Tuesday was still in progress Thursday morning. On the other hand, the two main fires which covered more than 1,500 hectares are now fixed in Maine-et-Loire.
The European Commission has announced the dispatch of four planes from the EU fleet once morest fires from Greece and Sweden to respond to the request of the French authorities.
European solidarity
Emmanuel Macron thanked in a tweet “European solidarity”, also praising the arrival of aid from Germany, Poland, Romania and Austria.
Warsaw had announced that it would send 146 firefighters to fight the fires in the south, which should arrive Friday noon with 49 vehicles, according to the Elysee. Germany sends 64 firefighters and 24 vehicles planned for Thursday evening.
In Hostens (Gironde), where Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin went, the firefighters continued their fight once morest a resumption of fire from the gigantic Landiras fire (14,000 hectares already burned in July ).
Asked regarding criticism of the lack of air resources, the head of government pointed out that the fleet of water bomber helicopters had increased from two in July to nine today and “eleven at the end of the week”.
Gérald Darmanin announced Wednesday the reinforcement of “more than 1000 firefighters”. He had also indicated to suspect an act of arsonists because eight fires very close together started between 08:00 and 09:00 on Wednesday.
Some 6,800 hectares had been ravaged since Tuesday, according to a latest report, forcing 10,000 people to be evacuated, including 2,000 in the Landes, for the second time for some.
On Thursday morning, a veil of dark smoke covered part of the sky towards the southwest, where the fires progressed overnight. In the Landes, the A63 motorway from Bordeaux to Bayonne was cut in both directions at Saint-Geours-de-Maremme, the surrounding smoke representing a “risk for users”.
According to the Vinci motorway manager, the Biriatou toll barrier was closed for a time to heavy goods vehicles heading towards Bordeaux. When questioned, the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, said that he would “get in touch with (his) counterpart to see what can be done”.
On the D110, the only road open to traffic, a few embers still smoldered in half-burnt plots of pines, of which only the top kept its green.
“Feels like California”
Several evacuated homes displayed “Thank you for our homes” or “Thank you firefighters” banners painted on white sheets.
“It’s like California, it’s gigantic … Yet there is a culture of forest fire” locally, told AFP, eyes circled, Rémy Lahay, professional firefighter from La Rochelle, 22 years of career , “but there, we are overwhelmed everywhere: no one can expect that”.
Drought and scorching temperatures and very dry air still create a “very severe risk of fire outbreak”, according to the Gironde prefecture.
In the South-West, according to Météo-France, temperatures reaching 35°C to 39°C are expected, even locally up to 40°C in New Aquitaine.
The rest of the country is not spared with 31°C to 36°C expected in the northern half, as well as in Languedoc-Roussillon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and in the South-East.
The rain is waiting
More than 40,000 hectares have already burned this year in France according to civil security, even 50,000 hectares according to European satellite data, i.e. more than three times the annual average of the last ten years, like other countries. like Spain, while the summer is not over.
Rain is not expected until Sunday.
Eighteen departments, from the south-west to the tip of Brittany, are on Thursday morning in orange vigilance, the alert level where residents must be “very vigilant”. The upper level, red, has not yet been activated as mid-July.
The multiplication, lengthening and intensification of heat waves is the most immediate consequence of global warming, according to scientists, who estimate that in Europe the number of deaths linked to “heat stress” might double during the century.
This article has been published automatically. Sources: ats / afp
