In the Girondin sky, for a week, the days follow one another and look alike. Plumes of black smoke obscure the blue sky above La Teste-de-Buch, at the foot of the Dune du Pilat, and in Landiras, about forty kilometers south of Bordeaux. The ballet of the Canadairs in the air and that of the fire trucks on the ground marks the extent of the fires that have struck the department for seven days.
>> Follow the evolution of the fires in Gironde on our live
And the numbers of last assessment of the prefecture are impressive : more than 19,000 hectares reduced to ashes, i.e. almost four times the area of Bordeaux, 37,000 people evacuated, including 16,000 only on Monday July 18, 1,700 firefighters and 9 planes mobilized… “I do not hide from you that this balance sheet will worsen in the coming hours”warned the prefect of Gironde Fabienne Buccio on Monday. We take stock of what we know.
In La Teste-de-Buch, 6,500 hectares, 18,000 evacuations and an accidental origin
It is the accidental track which is for the moment privileged in this fire, at the foot of the dune of Pilat. An expertise must still be carried out on the van which would be at the origin of the fire, but the area is not yet sufficiently secure to allow investigators to go there.
>> Four questions about difficult police investigations in the field
It must be said that the La Teste fire seems to continue its progression inexorably, favored by weather conditions which make the work of firefighters extremely difficult, especially the wind. According the last point of the prefecture at 8 a.m. Tuesday July 196,500 hectares of forest have already burned and “the situation remains very unfavorable”.
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Many evacuations have taken place in the sector, particularly touristic. Thus, since the start of the fire, 18,000 people have been evacuated, including 8,000 on Monday July 18 alone. The zoo of Teste-de-Buch is being evacuated, also specifies the prefecture.
Five campsites have already been destroyed by fire, as well as a restaurant and two houses, as reported by France Bleu Gironde on Friday July 15.
In Landiras, 12,800 hectares burned, 14,000 people evacuated and a man in police custody
“The situation remains very unfavorable, the fire progressing on different fronts”, writes the prefecture in its latest press release. In total, 12,000 hectares were devoured by the flames in this area about forty kilometers south of Bordeaux, making this fire the largest that France has known in thirty years.
The progression of the flames led the prefecture to proceed on Monday July 18 to 8,000 additional evacuations. Six municipalities were even completely evacuated “as a preventive measure”, according to the prefecture. Three houses and a mobile home were destroyed.
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On this forest fire, which alone devoured the surface of the city of Bordeaux twice, it is the criminal track which is privileged. A man was taken into custody on July 18 at the end of the day. A witness assured investigators that he “saw a fire start and a car rushing out of the scene”, says the floor. An investigation is opened for “destruction by fire of wood, forest, moor, maquis or plantation of others which can cause damage to people”, indicates in its press release the prosecutor of Bordeaux, Frédérique Porterie, specifying that “other fire starts [ont été] observed in the same area on the same day”.
Lower temperatures in the coming days, but windy
“The only way for the fires to stop permanently is a change in weather conditions”warned on franceinfo Sébastien Lahaye, former firefighter, coordinator of European projects around fire management, for whom “we can say that these lights are no longer controllable”.
The galerne, a wind coming from the ocean, should rise during the day, causing the temperatures to drop but further complicating the work of the 1,700 firefighters mobilized. Last night, 9 planes were also present in Gironde – 6 Canadair and 3 Dash – but some of them could be sent to the recent fire starts, as was the case on Monday July 18 afternoon in the Landes where the planes were diverted to Vert, near Mont-de-Marsan. “Each time we have a nascent fire, it is the one that takes priority. We do not want, whether in the Landes or in Gironde, to have a third major fire”explained the prefect.
To prevent the fire from spreading, “corridors” 40 meters wide are deforested. But with incandescent fuel swings, that’s not enough. We are considering tracks 400 or even 800 meters wide. pic.twitter.com/9oKt0wEIhv
— Gilles Gallinaro (@GallinaroG) July 18, 2022
Pending a change in weather conditions – even if no drop of rain is forecast in the department by Météo France for the next 15 days – access to the department’s forests is temporarily prohibited. Firefighters carry out clear cuts and “tactical” fires. The goal? Succeed in at least stopping the progression of the flames, which nothing for the moment has seemed able to stop.