Caroline Baudry, in the Var, edited by Manon Fossat 5:52 p.m., August 20, 2021, modified at 5:56 p.m., August 20, 2021

This Friday morning, the prefect and the firefighters announced that the fire in the Var hinterland was "fixed" for the first time since Monday.

But it is already too late for many residents who saw their homes ravaged by flames and lost everything in the worst fire of the year in France. 

After five days of fierce struggle by firefighters against the worst fire of the year in France, which left two dead, the fire is "fixed" in the Var hinterland, in the words of the prefect of Var, Évence Richard.

It is however "not extinct" and the emergency services fear the strengthening of the wind.

7.000 hectares burned as well as several dwellings.

Some victims have also been able to see the damage, such as Arlette, 66 years old.

READ ALSO

- Fire in the Var: what consequences for biodiversity?

"We have the impression that life is collapsing"

"This is my kitchen, there is nothing left of it. The walls are breaking and falling, the roof has collapsed. Look, there are even pieces of agglomerate which have fallen", this stricken resident despairs. .

The photos parade on the phone of the sixty-year-old.

And on the images of the rubble, between the charred vines, we can see the remains of his house ravaged by flames.

"The first day, you have the impression that life is collapsing. I took a dress, a pair of flip-flops and the notary's papers, that's all", continues the one who took refuge in a small dilapidated house in Cogolin with her son and her six poodles, where she has been sleeping since Tuesday on an inflatable mattress. 

>> Find Europe midi in replay and podcast here

"I think this is the house where the director of the Chabot school lived. Honestly, the Cogolinois are wonderful. It is the solidarity of the village that lent us a table, pots and clothes, because we had nothing left to dress. Everything burned, "still laments Arlette, who struggles to realize. 

But today, the resident has only one idea in mind: to rebuild the house.

"I do not know if we will be able to put a mobile home for a few months, until it is built. But what we will do is that we will install a large reserve of water," says she finally.

A device supposed to protect the lands of her ancestors from the flames, on which she settled more than twenty years ago.