Fires in Gironde, Landes and Brittany… Firefighters were on all fronts this Saturday to fight the devastating fires.

They await the arrival in the evening of thunderstorms and rains from the west, without knowing yet whether or not they will help to extinguish the fires.

Strong winds, hypothetical or excessive rain: these are the scenarios feared by firefighters.

The long-awaited coolness and humidity could become counterproductive, with the risk of flooding, according to Civil Security and gales which "could restart the fire", according to Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Mendousse, door - word of the firefighters of Gironde.

Sixteen departments remained on heatwave orange vigilance, but this heat wave should end on Sunday, before the arrival of thunderstorms over most of France.

Storms and gusts of wind up to 60 km/h in Gironde

In Corsica, where the orange alert was lifted on Saturday morning, Météo-France observed during the night "hail in many places and strong gusts under thunderstorms, at more than 95 km / h in places".

The rain accumulations were moderate, 35 millimeters maximum, but very intense, in just a few minutes.

In Gironde, where the resumption of fire from "Landiras-2" has not progressed for more than 48 hours after ravaging 7,400 hectares of pines, the meteorological service forecasts thunderstorms, accompanied by gusts of wind up to 60 km/h Saturday night.

Saturday, a month after the two gigantic fires of Landiras and Teste-de-Buch, "the situation has changed to favorable" on Landiras-2, because the fire "is in the pause phase", according to Mr. Mendousse.

Friday evening, the inhabitants of certain sectors of the Landes municipalities of Moustey and Saugnac-et-Muret were authorized to return to their homes, and, on this Saturday classified as "red" by Bison Futé, the authorities reopened the A63, which connects Bordeaux to Spain, closed since Wednesday on a portion of 20 km.

But “the fire is still active on the west side”, warned the prefect of Gironde Fabienne Buccio, recalling that a thousand firefighters were still mobilized, supported by a contingent of European colleagues (Germans, Romanians, Poles and Austrians).

Insufficient rainfall

The precipitation, expected from Saturday evening, will be insufficient to remedy the historic drought that the country is going through, warned Météo-France, after a month of July where less than one centimeter of rain fell on average.

Storms "will fall on very dry soil, with fairly significant risks of runoff" which do not allow water to be absorbed and increase the risk of flooding "and the risk of hailstones", warned Claire Chanal, forecaster, during a press briefing on Friday evening.

Over a large part of France, it is forbidden to water and 73 prefects have even banned water withdrawals from farmers in all or part of their departments.

Many forest massifs are also prohibited for walking this weekend in order to reduce the risk of starting fires.

This is for example the case in the Bas-Rhin where it is a first in this department, according to the prefecture.

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