Forest fires broke out in Mobihan, Finistère, lsère and Dordogne this weekend. All the fires are not yet under control, Monday August 8 in the morning. Hundreds of firefighters are still on the ground and air resources are ready to intervene. We take stock of the situation.
Thirty fires in Morbihan
Thirty fires have affected the department of Morbihan, in the Vannes-Auray region since Saturday evening, where 200 hectares have been destroyed. The spread of the flames was facilitated by the drought which rages in the department and by the winds. It took the mobilization of 430 firefighters and 120 machines.
Two investigations have been opened by the Lorient public prosecutor’s office into the fire at Saint-Philibert as well as those at Erdeven and Locoal-Mendon. The track of a fire started by the use of firecrackers in Saint-Philibert is privileged, reports France Bleu Armorique. Debris was found on the spot and two minors, aged 14 and 16, were heard after going themselves to the gendarmerie.
Finistère under surveillance
Elsewhere in Finistère, the few fires that reignited on the Monts d’Arrée on Saturday afternoon are fixed, two weeks after the fires that destroyed nearly 1,800 hectares of vegetation in the same place. But the mayor of Saint-Rivoal, iguest of franceinfo this Monday morning, fears “the combination of high temperatures and rising winds”.
LIVE Fires in Finistère ➡️ “The situation has not changed overnight”, says Mickaël Toulec, mayor of Saint Rivoal in Finistère, who fears “the combination of high temperatures and rising wind”. “200 to 300 hectares” have burned in recent days. pic.twitter.com/s5PsaC7Uc4
— franceinfo (@franceinfo) August 8, 2022
In the municipality of Brasparts, a fire destroyed 225 hectares of vegetation, it is “fixed but not mastered”, indicates the prefecture of Finistère on Twitter. In the town of Brennilis, a fire that destroyed 15 hectares of vegetation is under surveillance. 260 firefighters, supported by aerial means, were mobilized. In total, more than 400 hectares have burned in Brittany, report France Bleu Breizh Izel and France Bleu Armorique.
The Chartreuse massif on fire in Isère
A fire has been underway in the foothills of the Chartreuse since Friday, after a lightning strike, reports France Bleu Isère. The flames, which covered about fifty hectares of forest, descended in less than an hour in the night from Saturday to Sunday towards the departmental 1075, pushed by the violent winds.
Hundreds of firefighters were mobilised. Four Canadair and two planes “to disperse the retardant product will be mobilized, and a reconnaissance aircraft arrives in the area”announced the prefecture of Isère, Sunday
The inhabitants of several hamlets, in the communes of Voreppe and La Sure-en-Chartreuse, were “invited to evacuate”. The mayor of Voreppe, Luc Rémond, also specifies on franceinfo that “two quarters” of his municipality, located “at 300 or 400 meters” flames, were evacuated as a precaution. This represents “200 people”.
Two fires set in the Dordogne
The two fires, which broke out late Sunday afternoon in the Dordogne, are now fixed, France Bleu Périgord learned from the Dordogne prefecture. In total, 110 hectares of the Double pine and coniferous forest were destroyed. To the Roche-Chalais, where the biggest fire takes place, a hundred firefighters remain on site this Monday, according to Mayor Jean Michel Sautreau.