Fires: emergency services on alert in the face of the risk of forest fires in the South-East

To Cuttoli (South Corsica)of the canadairs fly above a forest in a life-size exercise for firefighters, Tuesday, July 5. All means of fighting the fires are mobilized. Firefighters must practice containing the fire quickly, but also get organized to evacuate entire villages.

With drought and record temperatures, French forest areas are on high fire alert. In Corsica, in the Var and the Bouches-du-Rhône, the prefects closed more than 25 forest massifs on Tuesday July 5. In Ardèche, students have been hired as fire watchers. With their binoculars, they have to monitor the surroundings of 36 villages. In the Gard, the dry scrubland pushed the mayor of Langlade to issue a prefectural order prohibiting smoking in a car. A radical decision, but well accepted. Over the past ten years, cigarette butt throwing has caused more than 300 forest fires in the Gard.