The toll of a fire in the Gard is very heavy among animals. About 360 sheep were killed Thursday in the fire of a sheepfold in a village, where a hundred firefighters were mobilized with a helicopter to extinguish the flames which had spread to the vegetation, we learned from departmental firefighters.
“The owner of the premises, a man in his forties who was slightly injured in the leg, was evacuated” to a hospital, the firefighters explained. The fire occurred in the town of Blandas, north of Montpellier.
A sheepfold with “initially about 400 ewes”
“Unfortunately only about forty ewes were able to get out of the agricultural building in time, which is completely destroyed,” said the firefighters, indicating that the sheepfold contained “initially about 400 ewes”.
In the middle of the summer season, which is conducive to fires in this Mediterranean region, “the massive and rapid commitment of around a hundred firefighters, 25 vehicles and a water bomber helicopter made it possible to quickly contain the vegetation fire which remains limited to about 5 hectares despite the severe drought,” according to the same source.