Several fires affected more than a hundred hectares of vegetation, Monday, June 13 in the Gard, indicate the firefighters and the Gard prefecture, during an assessment carried out at 9 p.m.
In Grau-du-Roi, the fire which broke out on Monday at midday at the Espiguette campsite is under control, reports France Bleu Gard Lozère. Part of the device will be kept under surveillance for part of the night. The fire started around 1:15 p.m., according to the Gard firefighters. According to France Bleu Gard Lozère, 60 bungalows located on a single island of the campsite were completely destroyed. Nearly 50 people were evacuated. No injuries are to be deplored, only a firefighter had a “heatstroke”. The causes of the fire are still unknown.
Fire at Grau du Roi: the @Prefect30 opened the departmental operational center (COD) in pref to monitor rescue and security operations, in conjunction with the mayor of Grau-du-Roi present on site. Result: one firefighter injured and 60 bungalows destroyed. Avoid the area. pic.twitter.com/2ISzCZkPyX
– Gard Firefighters (@pompiersdugard) June 13, 2022
The town hall has activated the municipal safeguard plan: making the convention center and the yacht club available and mobilizing agents from the municipal social action center to take care of holidaymakers and identify their needs. The other campsites located in the surrounding area have been asked by the French Hotel Federation to possibly accommodate holidaymakers evacuated this Monday evening. No one is in danger anymore in the campsite. A medico-psychological emergency unit (CUMP) has been set up by the Gard Red Cross.
A total of 100 firefighters were mobilized, with 36 vehicles, 20 gendarmes, a helicopter and 25 municipal police officers. The Espiguette campsite, which extends over 42 hectares, is one of the largest in Europe with 2,028 pitches.
In Serviers-et-Labaume, near Alès, 100 hectares of forest burned at a place called La Bouscarasse. Nearly 80 firefighters from Gard were mobilized, with twelve machines, supported by reinforcements from Bouches-du-Rhône, Ardèche, Hérault and Drôme. Seven Canadairs made numerous drops.
[#feudeforet] Significant resources are committed by the @firefightersdugard to fight these fires. https://t.co/RluVztmPkR pic.twitter.com/t7MmI6bP6j
— Prefect of Gard (@Prefect30) June 13, 2022
In Lédenon, near Nîmes, 25 hectares of undergrowth, forests and brush were burned. Several houses have been put under protection, as well as a stud farm with around thirty horses. A total of 60 firefighters from Gard were engaged with reinforcements from Vaucluse and Bouches-du-Rhône. Homes remain at risk. The prefecture points out that diversions have been put in place in the sector to circumvent the cuts on certain departmental roads.
In Blauzac, between Serviers-et-Labaume and Ledenon, 20 hectares of vegetation burned, a hundred were threatened, according to the Gard firefighters. Nearly 60 firefighters and eight fire-fighting vehicles were mobilized. Reinforcements from Vaucluse and Bouches-du-Rhône were on site.
A command helicopter carried out investigations in order to coordinate all the operations in progress, specify the firefighters. Four columns of reinforcements from other departments are expected in the Gard, i.e. 64 vehicles and 240 firefighters. In Serviers-et-Labaume, Lédenon and Blauzac, the fires are not under control.
“Given the particularly hot weather conditions, the SDIS 30 had positioned forest fire preventive means in the department”, recalled the firefighters, which allowed relief to intervene quickly. In this risky period, the firefighters of Gard call for the greatest vigilance of everyone and strict respect for preventive measures linked to the risk of forest fires.
More generally, Civil Security recalls that, this weekend, 691 firefighters were mobilized in France to fight forest fires, supported in the air by Canadairs and Dash who carried out more than 160 drops.