EXCLUSIVE - Europe 1 reveals the invoice for 10 days of intervention on fires in Gironde

Margaux Fodéré 7:59 a.m., July 27, 2022, modified at 7:59 a.m., July 27, 2022

After two weeks of fires in Gironde, the fires are finally fixed on the sites of Teste-de-Buch and Landiras.

The damage is on a historic scale: more than 20,000 hectares of forest were destroyed and more than 35,000 people evacuated during the operations.

Hundreds of firefighters were mobilized, dozens of firefighting vehicles intervened.

Faced with these fires described as "gigantic", Europe 1 decided to calculate the cost of fighting the fires between July 14 and July 23, i.e. at the height of the fires.

And the bill is salty: the intervention cost 6.6 million euros in 10 days, or 602,000 euros per day of intervention, taking into account only the means directly engaged on the fires.

2.3 million euros for Canadairs and Dash

For the aerial part, an average of five Canadairs and two Dash were mobilized daily.

The intervention of these devices cost at least 229,096 euros each day, and 2.3 million euros in ten days.

These costs include, in particular, the fuel, the salary of the pilot and that of the co-pilot if there is one.

© Juliette Bonnin / Europe 1

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1,450 firefighters fought against these fires

Then there is the cost of ground personnel.

Every day, an average of 1,450 firefighters worked directly on the fires.

Among them, there are local firefighters, others who have come in reinforcement columns from other departments, but also volunteer, professional or even military firefighters.

These subtleties complicate the calculation of these costs.

But based on the rank of non-commissioned officer, the most common rank in France, human mobilization cost 306,580 euros each day, or 3.1 million euros at least over ten days.

© Juliette Bonnin / Europe 1

66,500 euros of fuel per day

Finally, for land resources, the only data that Europe 1 has been able to quantify is the cost of fuel for vehicles mobilized on fires, mainly forest fire tank trucks, or "CFF".

Every day, the 300 vehicles in service on site consumed an average of 35,000 liters of fuel, i.e. a daily expenditure of 66,500 euros to supply the vehicles.

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Adding to this the destruction of 2 "CCF" vehicles since the start of operations, machines that will have to be replaced, the land resources have cost at least 1.3 million euros in 10 days.

These expenses are exceptional for the Gironde department.

By way of comparison, in 2015, a forest fire in Pessac and Saint-Jean-d'Illac destroyed nearly 560 hectares, compared to more than 20,000 this year.

The costs of the intervention were then estimated at two million euros in total.

The fires at Teste-de-Buche and Landiras therefore cost three times more, at least.

© Juliette Bonnin / Europe 1

Other non-quantifiable costs

Indeed, the calculations of Europe 1 are based on the only data accessible for the moment.

To all these "operational" costs are added the evaluation of the work of volunteers in the second or third line, but also donations from town halls or local residents.

Efforts that cannot be quantified today, but which could represent several hundred thousand additional euros.

In addition, there is the cost of the retardant that the planes drop to slow down the development of the fires.

At this point, the number of drops has not been stopped.

And it would also be necessary to add the costs of accommodation or food for the firefighters sent to the scene.

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If in the future new data were to fall, it would be necessary to add at least several million euros to these 6.6 million euros.