A campsite was destroyed in Argelès-sur-Mer during a fire that covered 480 hectares in the Pyrénées-Orientales during the night from Monday to Tuesday, and around forty of the 3,000 evacuees are waiting in a gymnasium to be relocated or to return home.
The fire, which also affected the municipalities of Saint-André and Sorède, could be “fixed, stabilized” overnight. But hundreds of firefighters continued to monitor and water the burnt pine forests to prevent any resumption of fire throughout the day on Tuesday, according to the Departmental Fire and Rescue Service (SDIS). They were to be another 240 for the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, said SDIS 66.
Holidaymakers welcomed in other campsites
The flames affected 30 houses and penetrated eight of them, while a warehouse was “heavily impacted”, as well as one of the campsites, prefect Rodrigue Furcy told AFP.
Of the 300 people evacuated from the devastated campsite still housed in a gymnasium in Argelès on Tuesday morning, more than 250 have been accommodated in other campsites or hotels, or have left, the mayor of the city told AFP on Tuesday evening. , Antoine Parra. Camp beds have been installed in the gymnasium. The prefect and the mayor spent part of the day there listening to holidaymakers who, having sometimes lost everything in the hasty departure from the campsite, told them of their difficulties. “We help them to plan for the future. We are at their side to help them in their choices and their procedures,” says Rodrigue Furcy. “We are here to collect their complaints. Some are in anguish”, “their good weather has turned into a nightmare”, adds Antoine Parra.
The very high fire risk in the region
There were no casualties among the population. According to civil security, 19 firefighters were slightly injured after inhaling the fumes and a twentieth was more seriously injured. A total of some 650 firefighters and air resources were mobilized to fight this fire, which started late Monday afternoon in Saint-André.
Bordering Spain, Pyrénées-Orientales is the French department most affected by drought. The fire risk is very high there, recalls the prefect. “We have several fire starts per day,” he says.
An open investigation
An investigation has been opened for “arson aggravated by the endangerment of others” in order to determine the origin of the fire, which does not mean that the criminal track is privileged, the prosecutor of Perpignan told AFP. , Jean-David Cavaillé.
The Minister for Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu, went there on Tuesday afternoon to “show the government’s solidarity with those directly” affected by the fire, he said in Argelès. Also present, the Minister Delegate in charge of Territorial Communities, Dominique Faure, notably wanted to “show her support (…) for the civil security forces who were heroic in the face of this fire”.