Forest fire near Saint-Tropez: Thousands save themselves from the flames

A forest fire has raged near Saint-Tropez on the Cote d’Azur since Monday. Thousands of people had to be brought to safety and numerous campsites were evacuated. Strong winds continue to fan the flames.

Dark billows of smoke hang over the Cote d’Azur. In the evening a fire broke out at a motorway service station in the holiday region and has since been eating its way through a nature reserve to the coast. More than 5000 hectares are affected.

The flames have already completely destroyed a campsite near the village of Grimaud. And the fire in the Var department in the south of France, near the city of Saint-Tropez, is still not completely under control. Thousands of people were brought to safety during the night.

Shelter in a gym

“Embers and sparks rained down on us,” said a tourist to the television station BFMTV. He and the family had to leave their vacation home. They were placed in a gym. “We just had time to pack the bare essentials and drove to Le Luc.” Campsites in the region have also been evacuated. “We got a call from reception,” said one family man. They were asked to leave the area immediately. “So we quickly packed everything.”

The mayor of La Mole in the south of France, Stéphane Gady, himself helped to save people from the flames. “We came to the aid of a family here that was in great danger.” He shared a video on Facebook. It shows him and several rescue workers in thick smoke, fires everywhere. “We were trapped in the flames and we are not coming back to the town center at the moment, the fire was approaching very quickly,” he said.

Destruction in the nature reserve

More than 900 firefighters and emergency services are now on site. Police officers support the evacuations. Fire-fighting planes and helicopters are in action. In the region, President Emmanuel Macron is currently staying in his summer residence Fort de Brégançon on the Mediterranean. He wanted to get an idea of ​​the situation during the day, as did Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.

The French authority for biodiversity speaks of a disaster for the nature reserve. Among other things, the endangered Greek tortoise lives there. Half of the area has already been destroyed by the flames.

“Situation very tense”

Fanned by the strong wind, the mistral, with gusts of up to 70 kilometers per hour and fed by dry grass and trees, the flames are difficult to stop, said Olivier Pecot from the fire department in the Var department.

“The fire is very fast, it spreads at a speed of around 4000 meters per hour”. That is four times faster than usual with such fires. “The situation is much more tense than in the terrible year of fire in 2003.”

At that time, more than 70,000 hectares in the region were destroyed by arson. Four people, including three foreign tourists, died. There were also serious fires in the region around Saint-Tropez in 2017, in which thousands of tourists and residents had to be brought to safety.