Hellfest, a sweltering music festival

Water lance in hand, firefighters come to the aid of festival-goers at Hellfest, an event for fans of metal music which began on Friday June 17. The festival takes place in Clisson (Loire-Atlantique). At the height of the day, it was 37°C in the shade, a record. “You have to hydrate, alternate between beer and water”, testifies a festival-goer. Here, shade is a precious commodity on the two open stages. So, the most seasoned rockers have equipped themselves with water bombs.

For the others, there are still several fountains, a few parasols, and two walls of water 15 meters wide. New this year: four foggers have been installed to project water droplets up to 60 meters. After two years of cancellation due to Covid-19, there was no question of postponing the opening of the biggest festival in France. All these precautions, however, do not prevent sunstroke, so the rescuers patrol and take the scalded to cool.