- Witnesses to the Martigues fire, now under control, tell of their "stressful evening." "
- 2,700 people were evacuated, mainly from campsites and tourist residences.
- The fire, which devastated 1,025 hectares, did not cause serious injuries.
In Martigues,
A shrill voice at the microphone wakes up the last sleepers. The restaurant next door offers to feed them at half price: one meal purchased, another offered. It is around noon at the Picasso gymnasium and the 300 survivors who dozed off on camp beds are regaining their appetites. A total of 2,700 people - mainly tourists - were evacuated, by bus or boat. “It was very stressful,” breathes Michèle, a retiree from Lyon, who came on vacation to Martigues with her granddaughter and her best friend: “The little ones can't wait to find their mothers. They were really afraid of the fire. "
Louise rolls up on the cot and proudly says that she “saved [her] ball. A Red Cross volunteer snatches the girl off our interview attempt with sweet corruption: "I have candy for you, it's not good for your teeth but it lifts your spirits!" Louise's grandparents hope to be able to return to their mobile home on Wednesday. This could be the case: the disaster is under control, after twenty hours of bitter struggle.
"1,800 firefighters are quite unusual"
"At the height of the fire, 1,800 firefighters were mobilized, it's quite unusual," said Captain Stéphane Guyot, spokesperson for the Bouches-du-Rhône firefighters. He was overpowered at around 11 a.m. after the Canadair were able to resume their flight. Fifteen firefighters were inconvenienced by the smoke, police officers also suffered. But "no one has been hospitalized", assures Stéphane Guyot.
At the Picasso gymnasium, the rescuers of the Red Cross give oxygen to a woman in her sixties. “She suffers from respiratory failure and we didn't have time to take her ventilator with us,” her husband explains. "But it's going to be fine, I'm recovering," launches the lady, already reassured.
"We were breathing really, really badly"
Everyone suffered this Tuesday evening on the beaches of Sausset-les-Pins and Martigues. “We were breathing very, very badly, there was ash everywhere,” testifies Noémie, leaning against the bonnet of a white C3 which is no longer really. This student was staying at the Tamaris campsite in La Couronne. It was completely devastated by the flames.
Martigues fire ... Here the Tamaris campsite. Horrible. Big thoughts to owners and campers in this event
📸 Mr. Sy and Mr. Gomez pic.twitter.com/nlEhnlp7v9
Dylan, a student from Lille, will not forget his “first and last vacation in Martigues”. Coline, Constance, Maxime and Dylan saw the first smoke around 4 p.m. while they were at the beach. "These idiots thought they had left the gas in the mobile home," says Coline, barely mocking. The little band goes back up quickly, arranges the things and makes "all the same a small aperitif. "The rest, they all recount in chorus, cutting each other off:
At 7:57 p.m., we order pizzas. Immediately, we see canadairs 10 meters away. We canceled the pizzas and at 8 p.m. we were evacuated from the campsite. While an hour before, the boss was playing pétanque quietly. We went to the cliff. We were very scared: the fire was very close, we could hear big explosions with all the gas cylinders. We saw flames of phew! "
An image particularly marks Maxime: “The light was orange, end of the world style! "
It is not even the end of the holidays after all: their campsite has been spared. They will be able to return there as soon as the area has been secured by the fire brigade.
Marseilles
Fire in Martigues: You were hit by the fire near Marseille, testify
Marseilles
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