The smoke could be seen from afar in the town of Berméricourt, north of Reims, this Wednesday at the start of the afternoon. At least 80 hectares of fields went up in smoke because of the heat, mobilizing around thirty firefighters at the height of the fires.
Propagation from a field
The fire started from a standing crop field around 1:30 p.m., and broke out spread to five or six other surrounding fields. “Given the wind, we ran after the fire a bit” explains Lieutenant Chaillot, who also explains that such fires are not surprising when temperatures exceed 35 degrees, usually because of agricultural machinery that heats up.
At 3:30 p.m., the fires were extinguished, a flooding operation still in progress.
The fire spread to a copse along the SNCF line, causing TER delays.
– Marine Protais