The two "outstanding" fires that have been ravaging the Gironde for more than a week were still not fixed on Wednesday July 20 but their progress slowed down overnight with the improvement in weather conditions, while Emmanuel Macron returned there in the afternoon.

Faced with this disaster, the President of the Republic "requested (...) the requisition of two civilian helicopters" which will come "from today" to reinforce the firefighting arsenal, announced the spokesperson for the government, Olivier Véran, during the report of the Council of Ministers.

Largest European fleet 

Faced with criticism from some elected officials about insufficient means, the executive has endeavored in recent days to explain that France, which already has "the largest European fleet" of planes and helicopters equipped for the fight against fires, has already increased the means of Civil Security during the previous five-year term and plans to raise them again during the current mandate.

>> To read: "Fires in Gironde: an ecological disaster and forest management to be rethought"

"Even before these fires, we had orders for new generation aircraft that were operational," said Olivier Véran, announcing the "imminent" delivery of a water bomber plane and a "finalized order" for two others. devices.

On the ground, "the fire progressed very little" last night, the Gironde prefecture reported on Wednesday morning on Twitter.

🔥 #IncendiesGironde


The fire made very little progress last night: in total 20,600 ha burned (7000 in #LaTesteDeBuch and 13600 in #Landiras).


➡️ No new evacuation.

No casualties.


➡️ Significant land and air resources remain mobilized on the fire front.

pic.twitter.com/OOXpmPj6Pt

– Prefect of New Aquitaine and Gironde (@PrefAquitaine33) July 20, 2022

The total area burned by the two fires that broke out last Tuesday now stands at 20,600 hectares (compared to 20,300 in a situation update at 11:00 p.m. Tuesday): 7,000 hectares in La Teste-de-Buch, near Arcachon, and 13,600 hectares in Landiras, near Langon, specifies the prefecture.

A still "complicated" situation

Regarding the Landiras fire, in the south of the department, on the ninth day of the disaster, "the situation is less unfavorable", with a fire which "progresses less quickly", but "it remains complicated", declared to the press Vincent Ferrier, sub-prefect of Langon.

"At this stage we are not considering new evacuations" but "we remain cautious", he added during a press briefing early in the morning.

Caution also displayed by the sub-prefect of Arcachon, Ronan Léaustic, during a press briefing on Wednesday morning about the fire in La Teste, evoking "a satisfactory night" and "an encouraging day" in perspective .

>> To read: "Charred campsites in Gironde: 'We thought we'd come back but in the end we lost everything!'"

While the fire "did not progress during the night", "we are rather confident even if we remain vigilant and concerned" and "extremely cautious", he explained.

"It's a fire that has been so special from the start (...) that we would be careful not to believe that the difficulty is behind us", even if the situation may "seem more favorable than in recent days", he added, specifying that the human and material resources mobilized on Tuesday "will be just as much today".

The situation also seems to be improving on the front of the fire which broke out on Monday in the town of Brasparts, within the regional natural park of Armorique, in Finistère.

"At this time, the progression of the fire is slowing down and the situation is under control," said the prefect of Finistère early in the morning on Twitter, adding that nearly 300 firefighters were still on foot. work in the face of this fire which at this stage has covered 1,725 ​​hectares.

#fire #Finistère



🔥 The progress of the fire is slowing down and the situation is still under control.



👉 The reinforcement of a Dash water bomber plane has been made available by the prefect of the Brittany region


👉 3 drops have been made since this morning https://t.co/maotYfWW3X

– Prefect of Finistère (@Prefet29) July 20, 2022

With Reuters

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