In the Pyrénées-Orientales, especially near Perpignan, drought is anything but a figment of the imagination. If proof were needed, the satellite image unveiled last week by the European Commission is instructive, showing the virtual disappearance of green spaces in the Roussillon plain. A drought that has lasted for more than a year, which, combined with the wind, offers the fires an ideal ground to develop. A “very high” risk of fire starting on which the fire commander, Ronan Charrier, alerted this Thursday morning, on RTL.
According to the head of civil security operations in the Pyrénées-Orientales, “we have at least between 5 and 6 fire starts every day on the Roussillon plain”, he assures. “Fire outbreaks” which ravage on average half a hectare of vegetation before the intervention of the firefighters. A lesser evil for Ronan Charrier, who welcomes a speed of intervention to avoid massive fires like the sector experienced last year.
“We will endure for at least three months”
The fire commander confides that his men are not at the end of their sentences. “The summer season that we already have this week, we will endure it for at least three months,” he acknowledges, adding that the usual summer system had been brought forward by one month, to start at the beginning of June. Nevertheless, in his sector, the system has been in place for a week and he has already requested reinforcements from the neighboring departments, Ariège, Aude and Hérault to support him while waiting for his volunteer firefighters to be completely available. An “extra-departmental column” which has about sixty men and a dozen forest fire support vehicles.
To inform and raise awareness among the population walking in this at-risk sector, Ronan Charrier relies on volunteers from the Civil Security reserve. “These are volunteers who do not want to see their massifs disappear and are strongly invested in the preservation of their territory”, he explains on RTL.