• Faced with certain criticisms concerning the management of the fires of the summer, the prefecture and the firefighters defended this Thursday the strategy adopted to fight the fires in Gironde.

  • "The firefighters of Gironde go to the attack of the fire, like the other firefighters of France", supports the prefect Fabienne Buccio.

  • “We had an extraordinary season, with temperatures sometimes above 40°C, humidity below 10%, and three major periods of drought”, recalls the director of Sdis, Marc Vermeulen.

The fires of the summer in Gironde were "exceptional" and will mark "the collective memory of our region" indicated this Thursday the prefect Fabienne Buccio, during her back-to-school press conference.

“There will be a before and an after, and they force us to question ourselves on the development of our territory, the adaptation of our massif.

On Wednesday, the prefecture announced that all of the summer fires, which destroyed nearly 30,000 hectares, had been extinguished.

At the time of taking stock, and wondering about the management of these fires, the prefect and the director of Sdis de la Gironde, Marc Vermeulen, wanted to respond to the criticisms that are beginning to emerge, in particular from of some foresters.

Could these big fires have been avoided?

Why did it burn more in Gironde than in Landes?

More than 48,000 people evacuated

“We must remember the absence of victims, insists the prefect.

This is unexpected given the intertwining of the houses, and the urban proximity to La Teste.

This report is to the credit of the firefighters, and to the numerous preventive evacuations: more than 48,000 people were evacuated, it is exceptional, unprecedented, even if these evacuations were sometimes difficult, when it concerned an Ehpad, or vulnerable, isolated people.

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The operational response "was up to this crisis", maintains Fabienne Buccio.

“The firefighters of Gironde go to the attack of the fire, they go to the front of the fire, like the other firefighters of France.

To note the differences between them is ineptitude, ”tackles the prefect.

“An extraordinary season”

“We had an extraordinary season, with temperatures sometimes above 40°C, humidity below 10%, and three major periods of drought, recalls Marc Vermeulen.

There were a total of 596 fire starts, some grew, but 589 were capped.

The strategy of dealing with incipient fires has always been applied, and daily, firefighters attacked these incipient fires.

As soon as we could we entered the massif to stop the fire.

But the priority has always been to preserve human life and homes.

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A total of 4,402 buildings larger than 40 m² were within the perimeter of the fires, “and we had 30 buildings damaged or destroyed.

" " It's not the result of chance, explains Marc Vermeulen.

We innovated, by building firewalls and support zones, this had never been done before, and this allowed us to have an anticipation strategy, in the face of fires that behaved atypically .

On Landiras 2, it was a support zone from Landiras 1 that made it possible to stop the fire.

“The construction of firewalls, “made over more than 200 km”, represented “titanic work”, assures Fabienne Buccio for her part.



On the origins of these fires, “the investigations continue, they are long.

Two people have already been arrested, we should have new announcements in the coming days.

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"The question of the status of the forest of La Teste, unique in France, must be asked"

It remains today to consider the after.

The prefect of Gironde has confirmed that general states of the Landes forest will take place.

“On reforestation, the President of the Republic announced that there would be a national project, we must think about adapting our massif in terms of species.

On the forest of La Teste, things will no longer be able to be done as before.

We must preserve the unique character of this forest, its biodiversity, but that does not mean keeping the same status, which is unique in France.

The question of the status of this forest must be asked: do people still need to collect wood in this forest for heating, knowing that security is not subject to transactions?

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The campsites impacted by the fires, “will be able to reopen next season, at least partially”, also announced Fabienne Buccio.

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