• Nearly 400 forest or vegetation fires broke out in the Bouches-du-Rhône in 2022.

  • To fight against these, firefighters are calling for more diversity in species, especially in the Bouches-du-Rhône where pines are predominant.

Summers follow one another and forest fires are repeated in Provence.

The authorities have identified 392 in 2022 in the Bouches-du-Rhône, according to the Prometheus database, for an average annual area burned of 677 hectares over the previous four years.

And in view of the current climate change, where intense droughts and heat episodes mingle, there is little chance of seeing the situation improve.

So in an attempt to mitigate the effects of forest fires, the Bouches-du-Rhône firefighters are exploring other avenues, leading in particular to the replanting of so-called pyroresistant species.

They demonstrated this on Wednesday at the Fos-sur-Mer barracks during an operation carried out with Ecosia, a German search engine created in 2009 which donates part of its profits to associations which work on reforestation programs.



“In the Mediterranean and particularly here, in the Bouches-du-Rhône, and even more on the Côte-Bleue (“the small creeks” west of Marseille), the massifs are almost exclusively composed of pines.

And the problem with pines is that they are softwoods which, when they burn, give off very strong radiation, ”explains Julien Altero, professional firefighter in Fos-sur-Mer, and president of the association Replanter la forêt provençale.

In partnership with the search engine used on the computers of the departmental fire and rescue service (Sdis 13) since 2019, the firefighters planted this Wednesday nearly 400 trees near the barracks of Fos and Port-de-Bouc .

And no pines, of course, but other Mediterranean species: olive trees, strawberry trees, almond trees, ash trees and other Kermes oaks.

“When a pine burns,

he dies.

Unlike other species,” explains the firefighter.

“These trees also release fewer calories when burned and are less dangerous for us,” he continues.

So, the plantations of the day, although essentially “symbolic”, aim first and foremost to protect these barracks located in the immediate vicinity of the massifs.

“Getting back to the mountains”

A model brought to school, believes Grégory Alione, the director of Sdis13.

“We have to raise pines and put back almond trees, ash trees, oaks”.

For this experienced firefighter, defense against forest fires must be able to rely on two topographical dimensions linked to vegetation.

“First of all, there needs to be a clear separation between the forest massifs and the built-up areas.

Also, there must be both vertical and horizontal cuts in the beds,” he explains.

Horizontal cuts, such as firebreaks, and vertical cuts, therefore, relating to the types of trees: “Olive trees, almond trees and oaks in Provence are not very tall trees.

When the fire meets them, it decreases in intensity.

It is a vertical cut”.

The omnipresence of pines and the loss of fruit species (olive trees, almond trees, strawberry trees) within the massifs of the Bouches-du-Rhône is explained by the disappearance of a peasantry who occupied the massifs.

The oaks, on the other hand, have often ended up as a frame or a boat and have been replaced by pines whose growth is much faster.

Thus, after the fires of 2016 on the Côte-Bleue, the association replanting the Provencal forest reintroduced around 2,500 trees in Sausset.

Other actions have been carried out, such as at the Col de la Gatasse, between Martigues and Sausset, where an operator has recomposed a field of olive trees.

"When it flared up again in August 2020, we were able to position ourselves in the field and stop the fire there," recalls Grégory Alione, illustrating the importance and effectiveness of having a presence of the agricultural world in the massifs.

“The agricultural world must regain a foothold there,” he wishes.

But in view of contemporary economic dynamics and the regularity of fires, which often cover the same spaces ten or fifteen apart, that would require letting nature regenerate, with a welcome boost from man to rediversify these massifs.


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