Climate: in France, the gigantic fire which devastates the Gironde is gaining ground
This photo provided by the Gironde firefighters (SDIS 33) shows a forest fire near Landiras, in the south-west of France, Saturday July 16, 2022.
PA
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
In Gironde, where 11,000 hectares of vegetation have burned since Tuesday, a fire of exceptional magnitude regained ground on Monday July 18.
New evacuations were underway in the town of Cabanac, in the Landiras sector.
The 1,500 firefighters, who have come from all over France, are waiting, exhausted, for reinforcements.
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With our special correspondent in Landiras,
Sylvie Koffi
In a few hours the tide turned, and everything changed.
It is therefore necessary to urgently review the battle plans.
The uphill struggle to stop
these fires
is far from over.
React quickly, implement new strategies, for example by cutting down the plots of pines, spared until now by the flames, in order to avoid feeding this fire which devours everything in its path.
A few kilometers from Landiras, the second focus of La Teste-de-Buch, which seemed to be stable, is in turn deteriorating: the fire has reached the sea and is heading south.
While the day promises to be very hot,
44 degrees, with gusts of a power of 60 kilometers per hour, large resources are being deployed.
Two hundred additional firefighters are expected to support the determined but exhausted teams.
Exhausted firefighters
In the heat and the toxic fumes, the soldiers of the fire indeed attack their sixth day in the heart of the blaze which progresses day and night.
Firefighters fight tirelessly.
“
We're quite tired all the same, it's quite trying.
There is an accumulation of days for several colleagues among us, the fatigue accumulates…
”
,
explains one of them, when another opines:
“when you are faced with the heat, it is complicated
.
»
► To listen: Heat records in Portugal
They are ready to go to the limit of their strength to fight the fire.
A health support system has been deployed to help them.
"
As soon as they have a five-minute break, when they fill up the truck, we check their state of health, their physical state, their moral state, their state of fatigue, and it's all that gives us small clues, which allow us to say 'this part of the team must be put to rest now or can continue its action'
, summarizes Fabien Saunier, the nurse who coordinates the device.
If we let them, we don't stop them.
»
Because despite the exhaustion and fatigue, the firefighters are determined to fulfill their mission: bring down this monster of fire, "
the beast
", as they call it.
The support of the inhabitants
The inhabitants of the department are also mobilizing to come to their aid and thus participate in the fight against the fire.
“
We are in forest areas, the Landiras area is an area located in the middle of the forest,
explains Arnaud Mendousse, the lieutenant of the Gironde departmental fire and rescue service.
For five days, the population has been welcoming us, feeding us, encouraging us, welcoming all the firefighters, and housing all the firefighters in France who are currently in the department... So the town halls are mobilizing, the inhabitants are mobilizing, a lot of volunteers present themselves to come and give us their support, and this is also an element that allows us to hold on over time.
»
►To read:
Spain: the heat wave kills more than 350 people in one week
Authorities are also urging caution.
“
Residents return to their homes trying to avoid the gendarmes, it is behavior that is not responsible,
deplores Vincent Ferrier, the sub-prefect of Gironde.
We really ask the evacuated populations, especially with these weather conditions, this turning wind, not to return to the sectors that we are evacuating.
Why ?
Because they potentially put themselves in danger, even if we have the impression that things are better in the sector.
In addition, they would potentially endanger the firefighters who would have to pick them up if it was complicated
.
»
►Also see: Climate: North America plagued by fires and drought
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