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Fire in the Var: flames under control but still under surveillance
Fire in the Var: flames under control but still under surveillance
(France 2)
In the Var, the fire which burned more than 600 hectares of forest has been fixed. 350 firefighters are still on site to monitor progress. The origin would be accidental, according to the first elements of the investigation.
Rescue operation in the burned forest. In Vidauban (Var), volunteers inspect the ashes in search of Hermann’s tortoises, an endangered species present in the Plaine des Maures. An individual was quickly spotted, a live turtle. Since Wednesday June 12, nine turtles have been found. Six of them were dead. For nature defenders, this early forest fire should serve as a reminder to the population.
“When it is windy, even if there has been some rain recently, you have to be careful when doing the clearing work”, recalls Chloé Dambrine, curator of the Plaine des Maures national nature reserve. A clearing machine could in fact be at the origin of the fire, which covered 600 hectares of vegetation. The flames even grazed a few homes. The virulence of the fire, set for Wednesday, took the Var firefighters by surprise, whose numbers have not yet been increased as in the summer period.
