“The risk of fire will be very very high” in the Pyrénées-Orientales, worries Lieutenant Ménigon of Sdis 66

“The department of Pyrénées-Orientales is at a level of extreme drought”deplores Lieutenant Christophe Ménigon of Sdis 66, invited Friday April 14 on franceinfo. “Historically speaking, we haven’t seen this for 40 years”, notes the head of the Salanque fire and rescue center. According to him, of “many rivers are dry” in the department and some “plants are already under water stress as if it were the end of July or the beginning of August”.

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“We are very afraid for this summer”says Lieutenant Christophe Ménigon, who is already planning “a fire risk which will be very very high”. Faced with the already well-established drought, the firefighters of the Pyrénées-Orientales plan to deploy their forest fire campaign and their preventive measures. “one month ahead of schedule”. “Usually, it’s rather the beginning of July, there it will be from June 1st”believes Christophe Menigon.

As summer is coming “complicated”the fire season has already started in the Occitanie region, with “several significant fires”. A fire burned 80 hectares on February 6 in Toreille, while 20 hectares went up in smoke on April 5 in the scrubland in Saint-Jean-de-Fos.

In addition to the fire risk, the Sdis 66 is afraid of not finding enough water to “be able to fight fires this summer”. Research to find new water points is underway. “It is all the more worrying that there is no precipitation announced in the coming months”, adds the lieutenant. Finally, the other unknown, a major challenge for firefighters in the Pyrénées-Orientales, “It’s also the wind that fan the fires” and makes fighting the flames even more difficult.