These various fires, which mobilized firefighters for much of the summer, ravaged more than 22,000 hectares of forest.
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It’s the end of a tough summer for firefighters. The fires that had ravaged more than 22,000 hectares of forest in Gironde in the municipalities of Landiras since July and Saumos in mid-September were declared extinguished by the prefecture on Wednesday September 28. Another fire, which had affected the town of Arès, in the Arcachon basin, was also officially extinguished according to a press release released in the evening.
In Landiras, a town in the heart of the Landes forest, a first fire broke out in July, and had burned around 12,500 hectares according to the prefecture. In August, it was relaunched in scorching heat, resulting in a “Landiras-2”. In one night, 5,000 hectares of pines were reduced to ashes. In total, the Gironde prefecture reports just over 6,700 hectares burned.
Landiras-2 had led to the arrival of reinforcements from all over Europe, in addition to local firefighters, to prevent another resumption. The end of the fires in Landiras thus leads to the lifting of “specific access restrictions to the affected forests in the municipalities of Belin-Beliet, Saint-Magne and Hostens”located in the area.
At the heart of an exceptionally dry summer, the town of Saumos near Lacanau had been affected in mid-September. About 3,400 hectares were devoured by the flames, 1,840 people evacuated, before the fire was declared fixed a few days later.
These new extinguished fires, against a backdrop of cooler and rainy weather in Gironde, mark the end of a busy and trying season for firefighters across the country. In July, the Gironde was also affected by the fire at Teste-de-Buch, in the Bassin d’Arcachon. After ravaging 7,000 hectares of forest after ten days, it was declared extinct on August 25. More than 20,000 people had been evacuated.