Whether it’s the weather conditions, the incendiary power of the fire or the human and material resources involved, Landiras 2 is beyond anything we knew about forest fires…
Whether it’s the weather conditions, the incendiary power of the fire or the human and material resources involved, Landiras 2 is beyond anything we knew about forest fires. With a figure that seems implausible and that many had to be repeated on Wednesday morning to believe it: 5,000 hectares burned in a single night.
A night in hell for the first firefighters involved and for the populations caught in this nameless chaos. In the morning, we also learn that 17 houses have burned, a material toll already much heavier than the first fire in Landiras. But once again, the firefighters saved the main thing, the lives.
“5,000 hectares in one night, it is one of the most virulent fires that we have ever known”, confirms Commander Matthieu Jomain, spokesperson for the Gironde firefighters. “We are in a situation which for the oldest can be compared to the fire of 1949, but in recent history, a situation like this is a first. In July, we were already in the escalation of superlatives. Today, words fail. »
Colossal means
However, firefighters and local populations have never ruled out a new disaster after announcing that the first fire in Landiras has been fixed. “Unfortunately, we were in a scenario that was expected. But what we had never experienced before in Gironde was this episode with such extreme temperatures for so long without any rain since Landiras’ first fire a month ago, ”said General Marc Vermeulen, head of the Gironde firefighters.
Dried vegetation, temperature over 40°, humidity less than 20% and the fire at Landiras 1 far from being extinguished, such was the explosive and unprecedented setting when the dragon woke up on Tuesday evening along the D 5 in Saint-Magne.
The difficulty of the firefighters’ task is accentuated by the heat which is around 40 degrees.
Fabien Cottereau / SOUTH WEST
Very quickly, colossal firefighting resources were deployed. More than 1,000 firefighters, 250 members of the DFCI, the ONF, gendarmes, police officers, soldiers with heavy engineering resources, an incalculable number of volunteer volunteers, farmers, foresters, hunters and aerial resources numbering up to six Canadair, two Dash, two helicopters. A veritable army to manoeuvre, headed by Lieutenant-Colonel Chavatte, commanding relief operations for the Gironde and the Landes.
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“We know how to maneuver hundreds of men on the ground, deciphers Commander Matthieu Jomain. We have a pyramidal organization which can be multiplied according to the size of the site until what we know here, with more than 1,000 firefighters and a command structure which evolves in parallel. However, if such an operational configuration is addressed within the framework of our officer training during educational scenarios, in no case had we ever touched on this reality. There we are. »
Never had the firefighters operated with so many resources, not to mention the arrival since yesterday of European reinforcements which gave the event an international twist, covered by journalists from all over the world. The landing of the Poles in C-130 military transport planes with 49 vehicles inside struck a chord. “It’s becoming a super American production,” smiles a fire officer, not unhappy to see fresh troops relieve the exhausted firefighters.
The rear base
In this war of fire, there is another setting just as disproportionate, that of the headquarters, set up in Hostens, in the holiday camp of the Department which today resembles a military camp. The incessant comings and goings of dozens of heavy trucks returning from the front, helicopters constantly landing and taking off, hundreds of firefighters or soldiers swarming at all hours of the day and night, gendarmes, officers of all bodies. On the edge of the perimeter of the fire, the usual campsite has turned into an impressive rear base where strategies are decided and where the troops are given a little respite.
This Monday, the Department of Gironde intended to create a catering base there for firefighters still working to extinguish the first fire in Landiras. The second fire was a powerful game-changer. “We have moved on to an industrial stage”, loose Jean-Luc Gleyze, president of the Department. More than 700 people settled there on Wednesday, more than a thousand on Thursday and 360 additional European firefighters have joined the ranks since Thursday evening. All these beautiful people eat there, sleep there.
It now serves 2,000 meals at each service. Many volunteers and around thirty agents, from the estate or departmental services, pamper the flame fighters, spreading thousands of sandwiches or providing them with everything they need: toothbrushes, nougats, sodas or cereal bars, a cold beer and soon mosquito repellent.
“On this point too, we are in an unprecedented phase. It is a decisive war effort to maintain the morale of the troops,” commends Commander Jomain.