A fire ravaged more than 70 hectares of crops on Tuesday afternoon in Val-d’Oise, the largest fire of this type in the Ile-de-France department this year, AFP learned from firefighters and the prefecture. .
The firefighters were called around 2 p.m. for a fire of unknown origin in fields located between the towns of Cormeilles-en-Vexin and Montgeroult, near the Cergy-Pontoise aerodrome.
73 hectares of wheat and stubble
Requiring the intervention of more than sixty firefighters and nine trucks, aided by a drone, the fire was finally extinguished shortly after 5 p.m. Its flames ravaged a total of 73 hectares, including 13 hectares of standing wheat and 60 hectares of stubble.
“There was a swirling wind, which promotes the spread. The good news is that the firefighters managed to save 100 hectares of crops,” the Val-d’Oise prefecture told AFP. No casualties were reported and no homes were affected, she said.
Favorable conditions with dry soils and heat
If crop fires are relatively common in this large crown department, which has a large rural area, they do not usually cover such large areas.
The current conjunction of dry soils and heat this year is creating conditions conducive to the start and spread of fires.