INTERVIEW
Some 500 hectares of vegetation were covered on Monday by a major fire that broke out about fifty kilometers west of Marseille, forcing firefighters to protect homes and carry out some evacuations. On Europe 1 Tuesday, Captain Stéphane Guyot, responsible for communications for the Bouches-du-Rhône firefighters, detailed the extent of the damage, the day after the outbreak of this fire.
According to Stéphane Guyot, this "violent fire" broke out on Monday "around 2 p.m. in the town of Istres" before spreading to Martigues, Saint-Miter-les-Remparts and Porc-de-Bouc. On Tuesday, the fire was partially controlled, according to the captain. "This morning, at this hour [7:30 am], the flow is no longer progressing," he reassures.
Still 900 firefighters on site
Helped by seven Canadair planes, a Dash and a water bomber helicopter, "900 firefighters" are still mobilized "on the ground", affirms Stéphane Guyot, specifying that they "fought hard all night for extinguish any outbreaks of fire that there may have been on the right flank and behind the left flank ". "They are going to continue a tiring job," predicts the communications manager for the Bouches-du-Rhône firefighters. Some areas are still difficult to access for firefighters, he said.
According to Stéphane Guyot, "between 450 and 500 hectares of forest" have "gone up in smoke". As the fire sometimes passed near urbanized areas, firefighters had to deploy to secure homes and facilities. About fifty firefighters from Puy-de-Dôme thus succeeded in preventing the fire from touching homes in a housing estate in the Saint-Jean district in Martigues, also noted this AFP photographer. Two families were preventively evacuated because the fire threatened their house. Stéphane Guyot underlines that "some houses were damaged by the flames and smoke". But for the moment, the firefighters do not know the extent of the damage with precision. Stéphane Guyot believes that the firefighters were going to tour the affected area "to diagnose all the damage that there might have been".
Residents of a retirement home were also confined as a precaution, a spokeswoman for the firefighters told AFP. Gyms have been opened to accommodate evacuees in Istres, Martigues and Port-de-Bouc.
Injured and poisoned firefighters
"Some firefighters were slightly intoxicated or slightly injured," adds the captain. But their condition was not of concern. "None were transported to hospitals", underlines Stéphane Guyot who does not report "no concern vis-à-vis these firefighters".
In total, around “1,300 firefighters” were sent to the site, explains Stéphane Guyot. The Bouches-du-Rhône firefighters were joined by a "battalion of firefighters from Marseille and reinforcements from other departments", he explains, welcoming "national solidarity".
All of the 24 Bouches-du-Rhône massifs have been placed since this weekend in "very high fire risk" because of the heat and the wind, which means in particular a ban on access for the public. On the night of August 4 to 5, a fire ravaged more than 1,000 hectares in a very touristy area of Martigues, in the Bouches-du-Rhône, which required the evacuation, including by sea, of several hundred of people.