LIVE – Fires in Gironde: Gérald Darmanin announces going there

Invited to our antenna this Wednesday at the start of the afternoon, Commander Alexandre Jouassard, spokesperson for Civil Security, recalls the reasons why the intervention of firefighters is so complicated on the Girondin fires.

“You have areas that do not allow access with vehicles, there is free spread, no constraints on the fire which continues to advance. This is a problem because the aerial teams remain mobilized in this place”, he said, emphasizing that well-maintained forests with access points facilitate the arrival of help.

According to him, the authorities have been ready for several weeks to fight against these fires. “We have three criteria: wind, hydrometry and high temperatures”, which are united.

Three Dash are currently mobilized on the ongoing fires in Gironde, explains on BFMTV this Wednesday Commander Alexandre Jouassard, spokesman for civil security.

“The Dash is an airplane that can drop 10,000 liters of retardant,” he explains, and “the retardant is a product that slows down the progression of the fire because when you have this product that is put on the plants, it increases the necessary temperature at which the plant will ignite”. This creates a barrier which slows down the fire, it is “a very important support for the teams on the ground”.

“Its speed allows it to cover the entire south-west zone: the Dash can connect Nîmes-Bordeaux in one hour, compared to two for the Canadair”, specifies the site of the fire brigade.

“Given the scale of the forest fires in Gironde, where 1,500 hectares have already been burned, I am going to the site this afternoon with the firefighters and elected officials,” Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. . “Thousands of other hectares are still threatened, we are fully mobilized.”

The consequences of a heat wave “can be significant”, recalled government spokesman Olivier Véran on Wednesday. “At the extreme ages of life, when you are very young and you do not know how to express the feeling of thirst, or when you are very old and you no longer necessarily feel the feeling of thirst, or when ‘we are carriers of chronic diseases (…) drought, extreme heat can cause dehydration and lead to complications which can sometimes lead to death”.

He reminds us that to protect yourself from the heat you have to close your shutters during the day to keep your accommodation cool, cause drafts, dress in loose, light and bright clothes, stay in the shade and above all hydrate, even when you’re not thirsty.

Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt presented this Wednesday in a press release the measures implemented “to prevent the effects on the health of workers and the risks of accidents at work linked to high temperatures”.

Among the measures to be put in place: “ensure that the wearing of individual protection is compatible with high heat, provide employees with drinking and fresh water, or even adapt workstations and worksite hours to outdoor workers.

Almost all of Spain was on Wednesday on alert due to the heat wave when highs of 44 degrees are expected there, according to Aemet, the national meteorological agency.

This heat wave, which started last weekend and should last at least until Sunday, will result in “suffocating” temperatures throughout the country, particularly in the regions of Andalusia (south), Extremadura (southwest) and Galicia (northwest), placed on red alert, warned the Aemet.

Apart from the Canary archipelago, all other Spanish regions have been placed on alert at lower degrees.

“There is a real danger of drought and the firefighters and the authorities prefer to mobilize the fire defense forces on other more important subjects”, explains to BFM Côte d’Azur Claire Domissy, deputy mayor of Valbonne (Alps). -Maritimes). This city has postponed the July 14 festivities due to drought, like other municipalities in the department. In the Bouches-du-Rhône, several cities, including Arles, have also chosen to cancel Wednesday’s fireworks.

The two fires which started Tuesday afternoon in Gironde, in Landiras and near the dune of Pilat, resulting in thousands of evacuations, had ravaged Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. 1,700 hectares of pines, according to a latest report from the prefecture of Gironde. . 700 hectares were burned at Teste-de-Buch, near the Pilat dune, and 1,000 hectares at Landiras, about forty km south of Bordeaux.

In the United Kingdom, the weather agency (Met Office) issued an orange alert before a wave of “extreme heat” from Sunday with temperatures that could exceed 35 degrees. “Temperatures are expected to rise later this week and next week for most of England and Wales” and exceed 35 degrees in the south-east of the country.

The British have also been called by their water companies to save every drop, in particular by heating only the amount strictly necessary for their cup of tea.

“On these two fires, more than 800 firefighters are currently engaged”, some of whom come from neighboring departments to help put out the fire, explains on BFMTV Matthieu Jomain spokesperson for SDIS Gironde. “We have the support of 4 planes – 2 dash and 2 canadairs – which arrived at dawn this morning to support the ground teams”.

This morning in Gironde, “the fire is still progressing, it is still not fixed and even less under control”, explains on BFMTV captain Matthieu Jomain spokesperson for SDIS Gironde. “But for now we have no homes directly threatened by the disaster.”

“On Landiras we have exceeded an area of ​​1000 hectares of destroyed vegetation”, he explains. A “fairly substantial system” is in place, and “being reinforced” with the arrival of firefighters from other departments, and air resources. In the La Test-de-Buch sector, the burned area is 450 hectares.

On RTL, the Minister of Health François Braun announced the reactivation of the heatwave info number.

“I want to remind you of the good prevention messages and I asked that the heat wave info number be restarted today from 2 p.m.,” he said.

This toll-free number allows “to obtain advice to protect yourself and those around you”.

Here is the number: 08.00.06.66.66

Météo France has placed seven departments in the South-West and the lower Rhône valley on heat wave orange vigilance: the Girondethe Lot et Garonnethe Tarn et Garonnethe Tarnthe Upper GaronneI’Ardeche and the Drome.

Two fires have been underway in Gironde since Tuesday afternoon. They have already burned 1,000 hectares of forest, a situation favored by the heat wave.

The most important covered 800 hectares of pines near Landiras, about forty kilometers south of Bordeaux, leading to the evacuation of 250 people.

Near the Dune du Pilat, in the Bassin d’Arcachon, where another fire destroyed 180 hectares of old pines without threatening permanent habitation according to firefighters, some 6,000 campers were evacuated preventively overnight according to an official. firefighters, Lieutenant-Colonel David Annotel, interviewed on BFMTV.