Benjamin Peter (in Saint Helena), edited by Laura Laplaud with AFP 09:03, September 15, 2022

Slowed down by the action of the firefighters and by a wind "loaded with humidity", the fire which ravaged nearly 3,700 hectares of vegetation and forest in Saumos in Gironde, was "contained but not fixed" Wednesday evening, causing a new evacuation of a thousand inhabitants.

On the fire front in Gironde, after a difficult day, firefighters managed to contain the flames on Wednesday.

The balance sheet amounts to 3,700 hectares gone up in smoke.

New districts of the commune of Sainte-Hélène were evacuated, that is to say half of this village.

For the inhabitants, living through this new fire after the fires that have already ravaged the department all summer is trying.

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An unrecognizable village

The village is almost deserted.

Billboards invite not to circulate to facilitate the passage of the firefighters.

Half of the town has left, but Aude, who is hosting her parents Eric and Antonia, who had already been evacuated from their accommodation the day before, chose to stay.

"We also have to evacuate but we stayed there for the moment. The children we sheltered them with grandpa and grandma in another town and we are there. Sometimes it takes the throat, the nose, want to vomit , it's difficult," she says.

© Photos SDIS 33

A fire of arson

And if the situation seems to stabilize, concern and anger grow.

“Our subdivision is about a kilometer from the fire,” summarizes Eric.

"There mustn't be a strong gust of wind. It's very distressing. It's a lot to force, these big fires. It's been that all summer...", he laments .

"We heard it was criminal, so there is anger," Aude gets annoyed.

"I don't see when it's enjoyable to see the forest burn."

"And above all to put all these people in distress", adds Antonia.

"It's incomprehensible."

© Photos SDIS 33

“There is a recurrence of events that wears out”

For Mayor Lionel Montillaud, who has always lived here, seeing the forest go up in smoke is heartbreaking.

"We see its massif, its forest melting. It's distressing when you're like me a child of Saint Helena, seeing our forest being destroyed like that, it makes us sad and angry. There is a recurrence of events that wears “, he asserts.

Many had taken to walking in these woods to pick porcini mushrooms.

Now they dread going back there and discovering a charred landscape.