The Gironde was placed on Thursday in red vigilance “forest fires” while the two major fires that have been raging there since Tuesday have destroyed 4,700 hectares of vegetation, including 2,500 in La Teste-de-Buch where some 4,000 inhabitants of the town of Cazaux have had to evacuate in the early afternoon. According to Fabienne Buccio, the situation is “delicate” on the fire of La Teste but it did not affect the town of Cazaux and the military base (BA 120), an area that 4,000 people evacuated in a “preventive” manner.
This placement in “very high” vigilance (level 4 out of 5) from Thursday and “until further notice”, announced by the prefect Fabienne Buccio, has the effect of prohibiting the movement of people and vehicles in the forest between 2 p.m. and 10 p.m., to suspend logging and silvicultural activities between 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. and to prohibit recreational and sports activities in the forest.
“Unfortunately, the fire is getting closer and closer to the houses of Cazaux, due to the fairly substantial northwest wind,” said the mayor of La Teste, Patrick Davet, on Facebook. “The Cazalins complied with the evacuation instructions. The tireless work of firefighters gives us great hope for the protection of property. The police will regularly monitor the village so that no houses are visited. »
A plume of smoke
A huge plume of orange-toned smoke filled the area in the afternoon and ashes are floating in the air, an AFP journalist noted. The priority tonight for firefighters will be to protect property and homes in Cazaux, explained to journalists Marc Vermeulen, director of the Gironde fire and rescue service (SIDS 33).
The fire took place on Tuesday on a forest road in this vast pine forest, difficult to access and very dense, which adjoins the famous dune of Pilat, now closed to the public. During the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, 6,000 people had to be evacuated from five campsites near the dune. Most have now gone home and campsites are asking customers scheduled to arrive on Saturday not to come.
Some 2,200 hectares of pines also went up in smoke in the second fire, located near Landiras, about forty kilometers south of Bordeaux. But the situation seems less complicated than at La Teste. “The objective is to stabilize the Landiras fire to put all the means on it”, explained to La Teste the prefect Fabienne Buccio. Nearly 1,000 firefighters are engaged on these two fires as well as significant air resources, with at least seven Canadair and two Dash. These forest fires, which did not cause any casualties, started at the start of the heat wave episode which has affected France since Tuesday, mainly in the west and south of the country.
300 hectares near Avignon
South of Avignon, towards Tarascon, a fire that started around 4:00 p.m. from a regional railway line spread over a small limestone massif covered mainly with pines and quickly covered around 600 hectares, burning 300 hectares, indicated firefighters to AFP. The 520 firefighters present were to be reinforced by 420 others.
The fire, “virulent” according to the emergency services, did not affect any dwellings and there were no injuries. Smoke and ashes reach as far as Avignon, where the theater festival is in full swing.