Some 300 civilian and military firefighters were hired to put out the fire which broke out around 9 a.m. at the Canjuers camp. Several water bomber planes were also deployed.
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A consequence of the heatwave episode that France is experiencing. A fire caused by artillery fire in Canjuers, a major French army training camp in the Var, burned around 600 hectares of vegetation, Saturday June 18. This last one is about to be fixed, assure the firefighters and the prefecture.
Some 300 civil and military firefighters were hired to put out the fire which broke out around 9 hours. Several water bomber planes were also deployed.
“It is an area which is a vegetated desert, there is no threat to anyone, apart from the 2,500 sheep that graze in this area and have been taken to shelter”said Captain Olivier Pécot of the Var firefighters in the afternoon. “The fire remained inside the camp, the firefighters are reassuring”said in the evening the sub-prefect of permanence Eric de Wispelaere. “The military camp is tens of kilometers from inhabited areas”, he pointed out. To the north, the Verdon canyon constitutes a natural barrier that can stop the flames.
Largest camp in Western Europe, the Canjuers military complex is “essential for the operational preparation of the French forces” and extends its 35,000 hectares on the high plateaus of northern Var, according to the Ministry of the Armed Forces.