Learning lessons from the management of summer fires in Gironde. Several elected officials, representatives of the State, Civil Security, and Sdis (departmental fire and rescue services) of Gironde and Landes, met this Friday at the prefecture of Bordeaux, to draw up a first assessment of these fires which destroyed 30,000 hectares of forest between July and September in Gironde.
“It is the first time in France that we have been confronted with two fires of this size at the same time” recalls the prefect Fabienne Buccio, referring to the fires of Landiras and La Teste-de-Buch, which broke out in July. “But human memory does not last, she continues, you have to write things in stone, so as not to forget. Here is what to remember from the first lines of thought drawn up this Friday.
Was there a failure in the strategy put in place?
For several weeks now, some foresters have been questioning the strategy adopted this summer to fight the fires, accusing the fire brigade command of having let the fire in the forest slip away.
“In the national doctrine, it is planned to carry out an attack on incipient fires, and this has been applied in Gironde as in all the departments of France, supports without blinking Marc Vermeulen, director of Sdis de la Gironde. We are talking about the four fires that ravaged the Gironde this summer [les deux feux de Landiras, celui de La Teste, et celui de Saumos en septembre], but we are not talking about the other 620 which were extinguished quickly. This is proof that the strategy is effective, despite the record in terms of burned area. »
“The directors of the Sdis of Gironde and Landes, were able to compare their methods, and we saw that they were the same, there was no difference in the treatment of fires between the two departments” launches for his part the prefect Fabienne Buccio, annoyed by the controversy. “The fact that there are questions is normal, tempers Marc Vermeulen, and we are going to explain the operational situation to the foresters. We have nothing to hide, and we can show what we have been up against this summer. Due to very specific meteorological phenomena, we observed fire outbreaks of an intensity that had never before been seen in Gironde. »
Faced with fires “of such violence that we could not put them out”, Marc Vermeulen recalls the decision to set up “tactical fires”, which consist of voluntarily burning areas before the arrival of the fire. fire, so that it has nothing left to consume. “Some 40 km of tactical lights were put in place this summer. If this method is quite old, another was used for the first time in France, that of “support zones. This consisted of “cutting down trees to have meeting points where to wait for the fire to stop it, or at least contain it” explains the director of Sdis. “This will be the subject of feedback, but so far we can already say that it has been useful. »
The management of vulnerable people
With “less than 1% of homes destroyed, and 50,000 people evacuated without damage, I repeat, the results are positive, insists the prefect. Nevertheless, there are things that we could have done better,” she acknowledges, and among them is the management of vulnerable people. “We had to evacuate nursing homes, it was complicated to find space for everyone, and we found ourselves faced with cases of disabled people at home who had to be taken care of. We need to think to anticipate more, and improve ourselves” on the places of reception of these people to be evacuated in emergency.
Coordination with volunteers
The action of the volunteers of the DFCI (Defence of forests against fires), who called in reinforcements from farmers who came to help with their equipment, was also analyzed at length. “Today there is the question of coordination, explains Marc Vermeulen, because if things happened naturally and worked rather well, we saw all the same this summer that it was important to know where these people were positioned. . With the weather phenomena we had wind inversions, and volunteers found themselves facing the flames. We must therefore move forward in terms of identification, census, and equipment. »
Fabienne Buccio warns that in the future, “each municipality will have to draw up a list of people who could lend a hand, within the framework of municipal or inter-municipal safeguard plans. Municipalities that do not yet have this kind of plan will have to adopt one, for better organization. »
Better prevention
“Subdivisions in the middle of the forest, it is no longer possible, still warns Fabienne Buccio. It’s too risky for firefighters, homes…” If the urban plans will therefore be scrutinized, the prefect also dwelt at length on the obligation of clearing, made to owners of land located less than 200 meters from woods and forests. “Only 30 to 40% of owners do so at the national level, estimates Fabienne Buccio. I could not send an agent to all the municipalities to check, on the other hand, the satellite maps could allow us to see who does it and who does not do it, we are looking at how we are going to be able to do it to serve. »
On the question of forest surveillance, “there was no failure to detect fires this summer, assures Marc Vermeulen, but it will be necessary to set up a video protection system for the massif on the Gironde part, which will come in addition to what already exists in the Landes. This will allow us to extend the monitoring ranges, and to have images to analyze the behavior of the smoke, and thus facilitate prioritization in the event of multiple fire outbreaks. The two directors of Sdis also reiterate their request to “preposition aerial means to monitor the Landes forest, and act more quickly on emerging fires. »
What future for the La-Teste-de-Buch forest?
The special case of the forest of La-Teste-de-Buch, has nothing to do with the Landes de Gascogne forest. The legal status of the user forest of La Teste is indeed unique in France, and dates back to 1468. In particular, a system of “bailettes” has been established there, granting the surrounding inhabitants rights of use, such as the right to firewood. , lumber to build their cabin or to make their boat. This status has persisted over time, and it is now in the sights of the authorities, believing that because of this special regime, the forest is no longer maintained, which has favored the spread of flames.
“The famous night of July 18, the one where it burned so hard, I was seriously worried about our firefighters, who could not get the fire, who could not enter the forest, is moved Fabienne Buccio . Without the drone, I think we would have had human damage. It would not be responsible to leave the status of this forest as it is, we must ask the question of the status of the “bailettes” which is no longer suitable. Who is still going to collect wood for heating? Who will still collect the resin from the pines? »
As for the old huts, which were once used by resin workers, and which are now part of the historical heritage of the city, the prefect is also very clear. “I ask the mayor not to issue any building permit for the reconstruction of the forty huts that burned down, because that would put the risk back in this forest. Their safety is impossible to ensure. “It’s a very beautiful forest, exceptional in terms of biodiversity, agrees Fabienne Buccio, unfortunately it burned down to 80%. We’ll let it rest for two years, and we’ll see what comes back naturally. “Which will not prevent to look into its management in the meantime.