The incident could have been dramatic at the Canjuers military camp in the Var, where a fire has been raging since last Saturday. On the edge of the fire a shell exploded on Monday evening. According to the Var firefighters, the explosion lightly affected six firefighters (one from the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence who came as reinforcements to support his colleagues, and 5 from Var) as well as a soldier who was in the process of creating access to the joysticks of a machine. The six firefighters and the soldier are shocked and suffer from tinnitus. They were taken care of by a doctor from the SDIS du Var health service present on site for safety.
According to the Var firefighters, the accident occurred on the right flank of the fire, in the green zone, more than 500 meters from the red zone polluted by ammunition from artillery fire. It is in particular one of the sectors which experienced a resumption of fire at the start of the afternoon on Monday.
As a precautionary measure and to preserve the health of the firefighters, a priority of the command, the order to withdraw outside this sector has been pronounced. Control operations are continuing but from a greater distance. The fire that started on Saturday has already destroyed more than 1,000 hectares of vegetation. It spreads towards the north and the crest of Grand Margès. A total of 320 firefighters are mobilized.