The postcard decor has become a spectacle of desolation. The violent fire which broke out in Martigues, a few kilometers from Marseille, in the Bouches-du-Rhône, is under control. While the fire did not claim any victims, it caused smoke to smoke over a thousand hectares of pine forest and caused a lot of material damage. Residents often find their property heavily damaged or destroyed by the flames.
"No more pines, nothing"
On the beach of Anse des Tamaris, gas cylinders are strewn in the sand and fire trucks still make many round trips. Vincent who lives at the campsite is sorry. "We are used to a paradisiacal landscape and there we have the impression of being on the moon, no more pines, nothing." Paul confirms it, he occupied a caravan of which "there is only a jail with a few hanging tea towels. There is no more caravan, no more awning, many things have left".
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The fire also affected the nearby parking lot and especially the houses that were there. Patrick can only see the damage. "I lost a four-wheel drive, two trailers and a motorcycle. Half of my house burned down, the whole roof was washed away. We will have to bring in insurance," he laments, fatalistic.