Fires have been ravaging the Gironde since July 12, near La Teste-de-Buch and Landiras.
According to internet users, they were lit in order to make room for the Horizeo project, a controversial solar power plant.
But these different areas are separated by several tens of kilometers, and no link has been established by the authorities.
For the past few months, the Horizeo project has struggled to find a place in the hearts of the Girondins.
For good reason, the future largest photovoltaic power plant in Europe – whose work will begin by 2025 – must be installed on more than 1,000 hectares in the middle of a pine forest.
Its establishment will by definition lead to the deforestation of this entire area.
If Engie and Neom – the promoters of the project – are looking for alternatives to respond to the concerns of the various citizen consultations, the installation of Horizeo seems complicated.
What let some Internet users imagine a correlation with the recent fires that have occurred in the department.
According to them, the fires were started in order to "properly solve" the destruction of these thousands of trees.
FAKE OFF
Since July 12, several fires have engulfed the Gironde.
Two areas were particularly affected: La Teste-de-Buch and Landiras.
The Horizeo photovoltaic project is located in Saucats.
If the three cities are indeed in the department of Gironde, they are not strictly speaking close.
Thirty and fifty kilometers respectively separate Saucats from Landiras and La Teste-de-Buch.
The Saucats area was not affected by the flames.
A slightly less obscure map shows that you are wrong.
Source: EFFIS for the lights, local knowledge to locate Saucats (but google maps does that for you) pic.twitter.com/ctQ9nzPLOm
— Charles Boisvert (@boisvert_c) July 21, 2022
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What about the origin of these fires?
In the La Teste-de-Buch sector, it is now official.
A broken down van caught fire on the edge of a forest road, according to the Bordeaux prosecutor's office.
“The sudden breakdown affected the vehicle, the driver got out and noticed that flames were developing under the dumpster.
He immediately alerted the fire brigade but the fire, out of control, quickly spread,” he explained in a press release.
On the side of Landiras, an investigation is still in progress.
On Friday, the Bordeaux prosecutor's office opened a judicial investigation.
Earlier in the week, a man had been taken into custody.
Suspected of having started the fire, the man was finally released.
According to the prosecution, the first elements of the investigation reveal for the moment "a deliberately malicious act".
“A beautifully decorated financial project in green”
This Horizeo project, the Horizons forest collective does not want it… but not from there to imagine such a scenario.
"In that case, they would have turned it on much closer to Saucats", quips Marlène Coulomb, one of the volunteers of the association which is fighting against the installation of the solar power plant.
But what is reproached to this future site?
“It seems absurd to us to want to install photovoltaic panels instead of the forest.
It is to oppose two things essential to the energy transition: the forest and renewable energies ”, points out the local resident.
According to the latter, Horizeo, “is only a financial project nicely decorated in green”.
On the sidelines of these fires in Gironde, the association also warns about the limits of the project.
"With this plant, we can clearly see that we are adding a fire risk to a risk that already exists", worries Marlène Coulomb.
Lithium batteries, components of photovoltaic panels, would be, according to the association, easily flammable and harder to extinguish for firefighters.
This is not the only fear of Horizon forêt, which challenges the public authorities on the risks threatening biodiversity and the repercussions at the local level, in particular hydraulic.
In the future, Horizon forêt promises not to give up and hopes to see the project disappear.
"But too much money has already been put on the table", regrets Marlène Coulomb.
To answer these questions,
20 Minutes
contacted Engie on several occasions, which had not responded to our requests at the time of publishing this article.
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