GIRONDE FIRES. 10,000 evacuees, more than 6,000 hectares burned, this is the terrible toll of the first two days of fires in Gironde. Three weeks after the first violent fires, the situation is worrying on the ground where the heat and the wind are still expected this Thursday. Here is an update on the situation and the latest live information.
The essential
- Fixed on July 25, the fire of Landiras in Gironde started again Tuesday August 9 in the evening. This Thursday, August 11 in the morning, the latest update reported more than 6,000 hectares burned.
- For two days, 10,000 people have been evacuated, including 2,000 in the Landes department.
- After a point made Wednesday in Aveyron where he had gone to the scene of another fire, Gérald Darmanin, the Minister of the Interior, will go there this Thursday alongside Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne. According to the Minister of the Interior, the criminal track is privileged: “We have strong suspicions that the fire which is restarting is the work of arsonists.”
Live
09:11 – Elisabeth Borne and Gérald Darmanin will go to Hostens this morning
Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne and Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, expected in Gironde this Thursday, should make a trip to Hostens, one of the towns most affected by these new fires. Matignon specifies that the two members of the government will come “to salute the commitment of the firefighters, the internal security forces, the elected officials and the volunteers.”
09:05 – The A63 motorway still partially cut off due to fires
If the A63 has been reopened to traffic, the motorway remains particularly cut off in an area close to the fires. Alternative routes have been put in place:
- In the direction of Bordeaux, traffic is cut off and diverted to the A64.
- The exit of the A63 is compulsory at exit n°9, at the level of Saint-Geours-de-Maremne.
- Heavy goods vehicles are requested to leave the A63 motorway at exit n°1 at Biriatou.
08:58 – What are the human and material resources involved in the face of fire?
In total, 1,100 firefighters are engaged this Thursday in Gironde and in the Landes to fight the fires. Faced with these violent fires, the firefighters are supported by aerial means: five Canadians but also two Dash planes and two water drop helicopters.
08:55 – A worrying situation on the ground this Thursday
The prefecture of Gironde does not hide its concern in view of the weather conditions expected this Thursday in the department. “The scorching temperatures (40 ° C this Thursday), should continue until Saturday and combine with very dry air to create very severe risk conditions for the outbreak of fire”, she explains in a press release. .
08:48 – A “severely burned” firefighter
According to Sud-Ouest, several firefighters have been injured in operation in Gironde in recent hours, one of whom was “severely burned in the face and legs”.
08:44 – Elisabeth Borne and Gérald Darmanin expected on site this Thursday
The day will also be marked by the on-site visit of the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, and her Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin. They are expected this morning in Gironde. Their visit should be an opportunity to take stock of the means used but also of the ongoing investigation. On Wednesday, Gérald Darmanin had suspected a criminal origin of these fires, revealing that eight departures of fires very close geographically had been observed between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. Wednesday morning.
08:41 – What is the situation this Thursday morning on the fire front in Gironde?
A third day of fighting against fire begins in Gironde a few kilometers from Landiras. The Hostens and Belin-Béliet sector is particularly affected. Since Tuesday, 6,000 new hectares have gone up in smoke, three weeks after a first fire in Gironde which had ravaged 13,000 hectares of forest in the Landiras and La Teste de Buch sector. The number of evacuees soared to 10,000 evacuees, including 2,000 in the neighboring department of Landes also affected.
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The causes of these new fire starts in Gironde in the Landiras sector are not yet known. For several days, however, it was the disaster scenario feared by firefighters, that of a resumption of fires on dry, ravaged ground and in a peat environment which has retained the heat since mid-July. “When we dug the ground, we found temperatures of 150 degrees. We knew that in the peat, everything could come back”, testified the mayor of Biganos Bruno Lafon at the microphone of BFM TV. Questioned Wednesday, Gérald Darmanin, the Minister of the Interior, did not exclude a criminal track. “We have strong suspicions that the fire which is restarting is the work of arsonists. This morning, there were eight fires, between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., which started a few hundred meters apart in Gironde, so that’s totally unusual,” he said.
In July, the fires of Landiras and La Teste-de-Buch, in Gironde, broke out on Tuesday July 12 around 3 p.m. and one hour apart with different causes, accidental in La Teste-de -Buch with a breakdown and a fire of a vehicle the departure of fire and criminal in Landiras. The Bordeaux prosecutor had indicated that “the criminal identification technicians were able to make findings which accredit a deliberately malicious act”. The investigation for destruction by fire of wood, forest which could cause damage to people was entrusted to the Langon Research Brigade which questioned itself on the possible links between the fire and other outbreaks of fire noted on the same day. A track that no element confirms for the moment, but according to the prosecution, “clues remain to be exploited in order to eliminate or retain the thesis of the same author”. Monday July 18, a man was taken into custody and questioned. Suspected to be the cause of some fires, but not the main fire, according to France Blue Girondehe had finally been released and is exonerated, Wednesday, July 20.
Fixed at the end of July, the fire in Landiras (Gironde) started again during the day of Tuesday August 9 before gaining in intensity in the evening. More than 1,000 hectares of pines burned in a few hours, 5,000 hectares according to the report made on Wednesday August 10 in the morning, 6,000 hectares on Wednesday evening. The fire is progressing with new starts in the sectors of Belin-Beliet, Hostens and Saint-Magne but also in Cabanac-et-Villagrains. While some hearths have been fixed, others are resisting and the persistence of strong heat and wind makes the work of the firefighters difficult.