Fabrice Thibier indicates that “more than 1,000 firefighters were hard at work” to fight against this forest fire in Gironde which has already destroyed more than 3,700 hectares since Monday.
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“The fire is not fixed but the situation is more stable”commented on franceinfo wednesday 14 september Fabrice Thibier, sub-prefect of Lesparre-Médoc, while more than 3,700 hectares went up in smoke in the fire that has affected the Gironde since Monday September 12.
“We have an active fire: there were more than 20 resumptions of fire which were treated by air and ground means”, specifies the sub-prefect. And to add: “More than 1,000 firefighters were at work, with 300 vehicles in the forest, six Canadair, three Dash and three water bomber helicopters.”
“We had a plume of smoke, quite intense and unpleasant, which was heading towards the municipality of Sainte-Hélène, so we used a delay strategy with 21 drops of retardant at this location and the evacuation of the population of half of the town of Sainte-Hélène, i.e. 1 000 people”explains the sub-prefect.
Regarding the progression of the fire, he answers: “We have a wind that comes from the west, more laden with humidity, until midnight. From midnight, we have a wind from an unknown direction but much weaker. We have good grounds for hope.“In total, the fire brigade evacuated 1 840 people. The prosecution has decided to open an investigation to determine the origin of this fire.