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30,000 hectares went up in smoke in Gironde during the summer of 2022. On the ground, the affected municipalities often have to finance protection work alone.
1.5 km long and 50 m wide, the town hall of Saint-Symphorien, in Gironde, is building a firewall. Total cost of the operation: €25,000. “Summer is here. We are already in April and if we do not take the measures to buy the land, prepare this firewall, we would have spent a summer which could be very dangerous”explains Gérard Fernandez, deputy mayor.
Residents worried
During the summer of 2022, the fires that had ravaged the region had stopped just 900 m from Saint-Symphorien. In the isolated houses of the town where the work has not yet started, there is concern. “We are always on the lookout. THE evening in closing the shutters, we look if there is not a red glow somewhere”confides Georges Morvan, resident of Saint-Symphorien. In the municipalities directly affected by the flames, the costs are much higher. Without specific help from the State, all the mayors of the small towns affected do not know when they will be able to rebuild.
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