Fire south of Avignon: "virulent" resumption of fire, evacuated neighborhoods

Europe 1 with AFP 9:13 p.m., July 18, 2022

This fire, which started Thursday at the foot of the Montagnette massif, in the north of Bouches-du-Rhône, burning some 1,500 hectares, underwent a new recovery on Monday afternoon, forcing the department's firefighters to deploy 500 firefighters and 140 machines in total, with the assistance in the air of three water bomber helicopters and a Canadair.

In the morning, when the fire seemed fixed, only 80 firefighters were still on the ground, before they were once again overwhelmed by the flames.

1,500 hectares gone up in smoke

“Massive attacks are focused on the town of Barbentane, in order to protect homes,” said the latest press release from the Bouches-du-Rhône firefighters, specifying that 120 additional hectares were covered by the blaze, in addition to the 1,500 hectares already gone up in smoke.

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More worried, the mayor of the town of Barbentane, Jean-Christophe Daudet, confirmed to AFP that he had asked for the evacuation of two districts of the village as well as a crèche and an outdoor center: "We have a very strong recovery, I am very concerned", commented the chosen one.

"I think that houses have been affected," added the mayor of the town, fearing that the south wind blowing in the area would bring the flames back to the village: "It looks like it's day without end, I sense panic among the population".

"The municipal safeguard plan has been activated by the mayor of Barbentane", confirmed the firefighters of SDIS 13, specifying that the inhabitants concerned can be accommodated in the village hall.

A fire started by sparks from a train

Faced with this recovery, a request for the decommissioning of two high-voltage lines passing nearby was sent to RTE, specified for its part the Prefecture of Bouches-du-Rhône: "This power cut will impact industrial customers “as well as individuals, in the Bouches-du-Rhône but also the Var and the Alpes-Maritimes, underlined this press release.

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Started Thursday afternoon, this fire of the Montagnette would have been triggered by the sparks generated by a freight train, on the railway between Avignon and Tarascon.

As of Friday, the Tarascon prosecutor's office opened an investigation for involuntary fire.

This fire remains very far in its magnitude from the two gigantic fires still in progress in Gironde, at La Teste-de-Buch and Landiras, where more than 15,000 hectares of pines have gone up in smoke.

Monday afternoon, the preventive evacuation of 8,000 people was requested in this department, bringing to more than 24,000 the number of evacuees since the start of these two fires.