Gironde: La Teste-de-Buch fire declared "extinguished"

Europe 1 with AFP 11:04 a.m., August 26, 2022

The fire which had traversed nearly 7,000 hectares of forest in July in La Teste-de-Buch, on the Bassin d'Arcachon, was declared "extinguished" Thursday by the prefecture of Gironde, which also specifies that "the situation improving" in the Landiras sector after the resumption of fire in mid-August.

The fire was declared on July 23

This fire in La Teste, which started on July 12 near the Dune du Pilat and forced thousands of people to leave their homes, said it was "fixed" on July 23 and then "under control" on July 29.

The prefecture welcomed Thursday "the mobilization of the firefighters and all the actors involved in the fight against fires and the surveillance of the disaster areas".

This fire was declared the same day as that of Landiras, in the South-Gironde, which had burned nearly 13,000 hectares of forest in July before experiencing a violent resumption of fire in August ("Landiras-2"), with 7,400 additional hectares consumed.

It has not yet been declared "under control".

The department remains on orange alert

In this sector of Landiras, "the effectiveness of the flooding operations carried out for several days has in fact enabled the outbreaks to be extinguished in an area extending from the east of the departmental roads D219 and D115, to the town of Landiras. More than 300 personnel remain mobilized", writes the prefecture.

It also announced the lifting from Friday of the ban on access to the affected forests, with the exception of four municipalities (Belin-Beliet, Saint-Magne, Hostens and Louchats) in which this ban is maintained.

The department remains however placed in orange vigilance for the risk of fires in the forest, "taking into account the weather conditions and the state of drought of the massif".