Europe 1 with AFP 9:40 p.m., July 8, 2022

The fire, which has ravaged 650 hectares of forest since Thursday in the Cévennes, evolved "favorably" this Friday, in a "high-risk context".

Other fire starts are to be reported in the Gard where the extreme drought associated with strong winds favor these forest fires.

Perhaps a beginning of calm on the front of the fires in the Cévennes.

The fire which ravaged 650 hectares of forest in the north of the Gard, evolved "favorably" this Friday, despite the high-risk context in which the firefighters operate.

Other outbreaks of fire were noted in this department which had been placed on Friday on "maximum forest fire alert" due to the heat, gusts of wind and vegetation weakened by extreme and early drought.

In the north of Gard, near Ardèche, some 745 firefighters from all over France remained mobilized for the "mega-fire", according to the term used by the relief services, which have been mobilizing them since Thursday evening.

The village of Gagnières, "saved" from the flames

"We are working on the fire on its edges, but it will be a very long fire to finish, because there are kilometers of edges. We will be able to speak of a controlled fire when there is no longer any risk of resumption. But with the very unfavorable weather conditions we are facing, it may not be before Sunday," Lieutenant-Colonel Eric Agrinier, communications officer for the Gard firefighters, told AFP.

The village of Gagnières was "saved" thanks to fire soldiers who quickly lit a counterfire, according to the mayor.

However, this fire remains modest compared to the 5,000 hectares burned in September 1985 a few kilometers away, in the region of Portes, a disaster engraved in the memory of the elders.

51 fires recorded in natural areas in the Bouches-du-Rhône

Over-solicited since Thursday, the Gard firefighters faced eight other fires in the department on Friday, where the prefect had banned until Monday from entering all forest areas of more than one hectare.

Thus, a hundred other firefighters, supported by a water bomber helicopter and four Canadairs, intervened in Sainte-Anastasie, above Nîmes, where at least one hectare had been covered.

The tourist sites of La Baume and the Saint-Nicolas bridge, upstream of the Pont du Gard, have been evacuated.

The outbreaks of fire are increasing throughout the area, as in the Bouches-du-Rhône, where firefighters have identified 51 fires in natural areas during the day.

But less than 150 hectares were destroyed thanks to a well-established "incipient fire attack strategy" in the southern Mediterranean.

For safety, the Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture announced on Friday the extension on Saturday of the closure of six of the 25 forests in the department.

The city of Nîmes has already announced on Friday that it is canceling its July 14 fireworks display.