Risk of forest fires: many forest areas closed on Wednesday in several departments in the south of France

The Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture is warning of a “very severe” risk throughout the department, with gusts of up to 65 km/h in some places.

Many forest areas will be closed on Wednesday, August 21 in several departments in the south of France due to the risk of forest fires, the prefectures and France Bleu indicated on Tuesday. Twenty-three forest areas will be closed in Bouches-du-Rhône, the prefecture said in a press release. It mentioned a “very severe risk throughout the department” with the mistral that will blow “generally quite strong, with gusts reaching 65 km/h from the Rhône to Aix-en-Provence and Marseille”.

Traffic and presence are therefore strictly prohibited in these 23 massifs: Montagnette, Rougadou, Alpilles, Chambremont, Chaîne des Côtes, Lançon, Les Roques, Pont de Rhaud, Quatre Termes, Castillon, Sulauze, Arbois, Côte Bleue, Collines de Gardanne, Montaiguet, Regagnas, Sainte-Victoire, Étoile, Garlaban, Sainte-Baume, Calanques, Cap Canaille, Grand Caunet. The Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture reminds that nine out of ten forest fires are of human origin and one in two is linked to carelessness.

In Vaucluse, the prefecture has decided to prohibit access to 11 mountain ranges for the day of Wednesday, which is practically all of the mountain ranges in the department, reports France Bleu Vaucluse. The following are affected: Bollène-Uchaux, Dentelles de Montmirail, Rasteau-Cairanne, hills of the Voconces region, Comtat plain, Rhone valley, Vaucluse mountains, Petit Lubéron, Grand Lubéron, hills of Basse Durance, and the enclave of the Popes.

In the Var, the Monts Toulonnais and Sainte-Baume massifs are prohibited from access due to a very serious risk, warns the prefecture. In the Gard, access to the Gard rhodanien and Costières-Petite Camargue sectors is completely prohibited, reports France Bleu Gard Lozère.

In Aude, the prefecture prohibits access to three massifs, Saint-Victor, Basses-Plaines and Narbonnais, due to a “severe risk”. In Hérault, the prefecture prohibits access to Mont Saint-Loup, Forêt des Pierres Blanches, Causse d’Aumelas and Colline de la Moure, Cirque de Mourèze and Montagne de Liausson, for a severe risk. In the Pyrénées-Orientales, the Corbières and Roussillon massifs are prohibited from access by the prefecture for an “exceptional” risk.

Météo France placed eight departments on orange alert for “forest fires”, or “high risk” on Wednesday: Bouches-du-Rhône, Var, Vaucluse, Drôme, Gard, Hérault, Aude and Pyrénées-Orientales.