Good news ! Firefighters managed to fix Thursday the fire that broke out Monday in Saumos, Gironde, announced the sub-prefect of Lesparre-Médoc, Fabrice Thibier, Thursday at the end of the day.
The area of the fire was “reassessed”. “We are at 3,400 hectares of burns (against 3,720 hectares estimated so far), we are on a stabilized fire, which remains within the limits which are those which we have known since yesterday, which allows us to declare it fixed” , added Fabrice Thibier during a press briefing.
Better weather
On site, “the situation is favorable because the weather is much better,” explained Gironde firefighter colonel Charles Lafourcade. “A strong westerly wind brought humidity,” with air humidity above 50%” throughout the day Thursday.
For Friday, “we have the same forecasts, so the fire should not move. We have air and ground resources that hold this perimeter”, assured Charles Lafourcade, estimating that the fire will be “under control”, that is to say under control and without significant flames, within “a few days”.
Almost all of the 1,840 people evacuated since Monday in the municipalities of Saumos and Saint-Hélène, in the south of the Médoc between the seaside resort of Lacanau, on the Atlantic coast, and the Bordeaux conurbation, will be able to return to their homes “from 6 p.m. Thursday, authorities said.
Only about fifty inhabitants, whose houses are located in the perimeter of the burnt forest, will still have to wait, said the firefighters alongside the mayor of Saint-Hélène, Lionel Montillaud. For the elected official, this fire fixed in his perimeter “is a huge relief because people were worried, jostled by the process of evacuating them, it will also reassure them about the state of their homes and their comfort of course”.
“A lot of caution”
“We are still at risk of an orange forest fire in the department,” recalled the sub-prefect Fabrice Thibier. “We are reintegrating but with great caution. We are still in a bit of a crisis since the fire has not yet been declared extinguished”.
Access to the area that burned will remain closed until further notice, in particular to let 700 firefighters and the Defense of Forests against Fires (DFCI) cut down damaged trees and water the burned plots.
After having progressed strongly for 36 hours since Monday, the fire had slowed its course since Wednesday, slowed down daily by the action of a thousand firefighters helped by the DFCI, six Canadair, three Dash planes and two bomber helicopters from water.
During the night from Wednesday to Thursday, according to the regional air observatory Atmo Nouvelle-Aquitaine, “a new wind, coming from the west, directed the plume of smoke directly towards the Bordeaux conurbation”, and “the department should expect the regulatory threshold for suspended particles to be exceeded” on Thursday and Friday.