Strong winds causing a major resumption of fire. A fire near the wine region of Beaumes-de-Venise, in the Vaucluse, saw a strong recovery in the night due to strong winds, with 40 additional hectares burned quickly, told AFP the firefighters who reinforced their workforce.
In total, some 240 hectares were covered by the fire which started on Monday, with areas of forest in particular but also some vines and fields of olive trees. About three-quarters of this area has been burned, according to the same source.
“Around 4 am, we had a big resumption of fire with an aggravation of the wind, 40 hectares of forest went up in smoke in half an hour to the west of the village of Barroux”, told AFP the lieutenant-colonel Philippe Chaussinand of the Vaucluse firefighters, who heads the operational group.
New evacuations
“We protected the houses, but around thirty people had to be evacuated” in these areas around Barroux, a village at the foot of Mont Ventoux. The day before about 130 people had been received in emergency structures, but the vast majority had been able to return home.
The number of firefighters has been reinforced and they are now 386 to fight against this fire supported by Canadair water bomber planes and a Puma helicopter, he said. The recovery near Barroux is now contained.
In the Var, another department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, firefighters have been fighting for three days against a fire that has ravaged the hinterland of Saint-Tropez which left one dead and burned more than 5,000 hectares .