Stéphane Place (special correspondent to Teste-de-Buch), edited by Ophélie Artaud 9:34 p.m., July 21, 2022

Ten days after the start of the terrible fires which still affect the Gironde, it is relief for some evacuees who have finally been able to find their homes.

Nevertheless, the firefighters are still present in certain areas that are still inaccessible because, if the fire seems fixed, the risk of a new start is still very present.

Some evacuees from the Gironde fires will be able to return home.

The lights are still not fixed.

20,800 hectares have burned, but they are no longer progressing.

Some of the 30,000 evacuees can therefore return to their homes.

At Pila, everything is very quiet.

But for the residents that Europe 1 met and who found their house intact, had the simple happiness of turning the key in the lock of the front door.

And that's an obvious relief. 

The village of Cazaux still inaccessible

"It was a friend who called me and told me 'We are going to be released at 5 p.m.' I only half believed it, we had no idea how long it would last. Fortunately, friends welcomed us. I thought there would still be a day or two. We didn't really know," explains Philippe, a resident.

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"We saw that for two days, they had more or less delineated the problem. But when you leave in a quarter of an hour, you say to yourself 'if I lose my house, it's decades of savings of lost'. We're super happy and in this case, the house is intact. But in your head, it's a little milling when you leave. Especially when I knew that the fire was barely 700 meters away as the crow flies. 'bird,' he adds.

Indeed, an area of ​​Pila, the closest to the dune, remains inaccessible this evening, as does the village of Cazaux.

It will take at least a few more days of patience for the inhabitants, indicates the prefect, who supervises the operations to fight against these extraordinary fires.

In the Arcachon basin, it is contained but not fixed.

Clearly, the risk of fire swings is still present and could lead to spread.