GIRONDE FIRES. The fires are still not fixed in Gironde this Tuesday, July 19, 2022. Between Landiras and La Teste-de-Buch nearly 17,000 hectares went up in smoke. Despite the drop in temperatures, shifting winds continue to fan the flames.
The essential
- In Gironde, fires are still burning the pine forests in Landiras and La Teste-de-Buch this Tuesday, July 19, 2022. Gironde prefecture announces nearly 17,000 hectares burned, nearly 5,000 towards the Arcachon basin and 12,000 in the South-Gironde.
- The night was difficult for the firefighters and the firefighters remain worried on Tuesday in the face of the fires which are progressing thanks to the rotating winds and despite the drop in temperatures.
- More than 16,000 people were preventively evacuated yesterday, 32,000 of them have left their homes since the start of the fires in Gironde.
- Follow the evolution of the situation live.
Live
08:32 – A fire declared in Finistère
The Gironde is not the only one in flames, yesterday a fire broke out in Finistère more precisely in the Monts d’Arrée in the town of Brasparts. According to the latest news from the Finistère prefecture this morning, 1,330 hectares have burned. 195 firefighters and 50 rescue vehicles are currently on site to fight the fires. On the evacuation side, 300 people were sheltered.
08:27 – Smoke from the fires spreads over Bordeaux
Bordeaux woke up to a cloud of smoke on Tuesday 19 July. Since that night, the Gironde capital has smelled of burnt pine and has been covered in smoke from the fires raging near Landiras in the south of the department. Residents are urged not to call the fire department to report the smoke.
08:21 – A third fire declared in Vensac in the Médoc
There is now talk of three fires in Gironde. To that of Landiras and La Teste-de-Buch was added the fire of Vensac which broke out yesterday around 6:30 p.m. for reasons still unknown. Nearly a hundred hectares have since burned in the north of the Gironde. Yesterday, the firefighters prioritized their actions on the incipient fire as explained by Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Mendousse, communication officer of the Gironde firefighters at South West : “You have to pull out all the stops and have the fire as strong and as quickly as possible. We can see how complicated it is already to have two large fires simultaneously.” This Tuesday morning the fire is still not under control.
08:16 – Where are the fires in La Teste-de-Buch?
In La Teste-de-Buch also the fires continue to advance but this Tuesday morning they are progressing both towards the south and towards the north. Yesterday at 11 p.m., the prefecture had more than 4,700 hectares burned and there too the spread of smoke led to preventive evacuations of the districts of La Teste-de-Buche, Miquelot and Porte de l’Océan, and the city of Pyla-sur-Mer, i.e. 8,000 people. During the night, the town hall announced “the immediate evacuation of the southern activity zone of La Teste-de-Buch”.
08:12 – Where are the fires in Landiras?
The fires progressed near Landiras yesterday and overnight from Monday to Tuesday. The last point of the prefecture was 12,000 hectares gone up in smoke in the South-Gironde under fires advancing on all fronts. The fires prompted the authorities to order the evacuation of 8,000 people in the municipalities of Landiras, Budos, Balizac, Villandraut, Noaillan, Léogeats and Saint-Magne. This morning, the flames are still not under control.
08:08 – 17,000 hectares burned by fires in Gironde
The two major fires burning the Gironde are still not fixed this Tuesday, July 19, 2022, a week after their outbreak. Last night, the Gironde prefecture announced a total of 17,000 hectares burned between Landiras in the south of the department and La Teste-de-Buch, near the Arcachon basin.
07/18/22 – 11:45 p.m. – “There are grounds for hope”, according to the president of Sdis
[FIN DU DIRECT] – Questioned by the regional daily Sud Ouest, the president of Sdis and departmental councilor of the Sud-Gironde canton, Jean-Luc Gleyze, described what he had been able to observe on the ground on Monday July 18: “I flew over the zone at the end of the day. What I saw twisted my guts. The fire now affects the departmental domain of Hostens and surrounds a photovoltaic power station. We see tiny red trucks lost in a calcined immensity. It is depressing. The fire was banana shaped at first, now it’s a huge circle with tentacles. There are grounds for hope. The wind will be less strong than expected on Monday evening. And we hope that the windbreaks will fire created in the east will hold the shock.”
07/18/22 – 23:15 – What does 17,000 hectares represent?
While 17,000 hectares have gone up in smoke for the moment, our colleagues from BFM TV wondered what this represents. It is true that it is complicated to imagine it. 17,000 hectares is nothing more than the area of Paris and its surroundings, according to the continuous news channel.
07/18/22 – 10:45 p.m. – The sub-prefect of Langon fears a difficult night
Questioned by BFM TV, the sub-prefect of Langon, Vincent Ferrier, detailed the device in place in Gironde: “We have 890 firefighters who operate and 20 additional fire engines. This allows us to strengthen ourselves to hold out this night.” According to him, “it’s going to be a difficult night with this turning wind which will remain strong […]which is an additional challenge for the teams on site.”
07/18/22 – 10:15 p.m. – Landiras fire: a man was taken into custody
Monday evening, July 18, AFP reported that a man was taken into custody as part of the investigation into the Landiras fire. Last Friday, the prosecution had indicated that it favored the “criminal thesis”.
07/18/22 – 9:41 p.m. – New assessment: 17,000 hectares of forest have gone up in smoke
A new assessment was communicated by the prefecture of Gironde at the beginning of the evening. 12 hectares of forest were destroyed in the Landiras sector, compared to 5,000 in Teste-de-Buch. In all, 17,000 hectares of forest went up in smoke.
07/18/22 – 9:22 p.m. – The Flots Bleus campsite was destroyed
He had been made famous by the movie “Camping”. The “Les flots bleus” campsite was destroyed by flames on Monday July 18, 2022. Remember, Patrick Chirac (played by Franck Dubosc) spent his holidays there and experienced all kinds of adventures with the other holidaymakers. Released in 2006, “Camping” had two little brothers, “Camping 2” (2010) and “Camping 3” (2016).
07/18/22 – 8:50 p.m. – Five campsites are 90% destroyed, announces the prefect
According to the Gironde prefecture, the five campsites affected by the flames at Teste-de-Buch are 90% destroyed. These are the La Forêt du Pilat campsites, the Dune campsite, Pyla campsite, Yello! Village Panorama du Pyla and Petit Nice.
Learn more
The fires broke out on Tuesday July 12 at 3 p.m. around the towns of Landiras and La Teste-de-Buch, both located in Gironde. In La Teste-de-Buch, the start of the fire is accidental, said the mayor of the town, Patrick Davet at the microphone of France Bleu Gironde, Saturday July 16, 2022. The start of the fire was caused by the fire of a broken down truck parked on track 214 which connects the Arcachon basin to the Pilat dune. The owner of the vehicle notified the emergency services within minutes of the fire. In Landiras, the cause is not yet known, but the criminal track is strongly considered by the investigators, indicated the parquet floor of Bordeaux, Friday July 15, 2022.
Landiras, a commune in the South-Gironde, is in the grip of the largest fire of the two which broke out in Gironde on July 12, 2022. This Monday, July 18, more than 9,800 hectares were burned around Landiras and the district of Langon. The forest fire extends over a circumference of more than 40 kilometers according to the departmental director of Sdis de Gironde, Marc Vermeulen, questioned on France info. The fire resumed in force in the night from Sunday to Monday, progressing easily on very dry soils and is fanned by the rotating winds and gusts at 60km / h. A “very unfavorable” situation for firefighters and which is “expected to last” according to Colonel Charles Lafourcade. The Gironde prefecture indicates for his part that “the situation remains critical and is deteriorating, with a progression of the fire on different fronts due to changing winds. Work to create firewalls continues.”
In La Teste-de-Buch, the fire burned 4,300 hectares according to the latest information given by the local authorities this Monday, July 18 at 10 a.m. Near the Arcachon basin, the fire spread to the south of the Dune du Pilat and reached the ocean, burning in particular patches of forest on the edge of the beaches of Petit Nice and the Lagoon. The winds are pushing the flames south towards the Landes department, the town of Biscarosse could be on the front line. The progression of the fire “was slowed down thanks to the action of the firefighters”, specifies the Gironde prefecture.
The Landes, a department bordering the Gironde, are closely monitoring the progression of the fires, in particular that of La Teste-de-Buch which is blazing the forest just three kilometers from the Landes border and the town of Biscarosse. As the fire advances towards the south, the department has prepared by widening its firewalls, in particular the one which makes the junction between the Landes and the Gironde. “There was an existing firewall ten meters wide, which we are widening by 30 meters. Jean-Yves Perez, member of the Landes SDIS, yesterday at France Blue Gironde. The city of Biscarosse is still spared by the flames but it is towards her that the fire is heading.
On July 18, around 3:30 p.m., a fire broke out in the Landes in the town of Vert. The reasons for the start of the fire have not yet been communicated by the prefecture but we know that around thirty hectares of pine forests were burned. Part of the air resources deployed in Gironde were mobilized on the incipient fire, priority over the fires already launched.
Where are the fires that broke out in Gironde and where are they spreading to? First, a first fire is located in the west of the department, in the town of La Teste-de-Buch, near Arcachon, along the Dune du Pilat and the Atlantic Ocean. The fire is heading south, towards Landes and the town of Biscarosse. Further east, the second fire started from Landiras, 45km south of Bordeaux. There too, due to weather and wind conditions, the flames are heading south.
The fires are so vigorous and the smoke has taken on such a dimension that it is possible to observe the phenomenon from the sky and space. The European Copernicus satellite imagery program captured impressive images, where we can very well see the progress of the smoke on the territory of the department, towards the west.
Here is the fire map from the specialized site Forest fires in France, which allows you to view the progress of claims in Gironde, but also in the Landes and other areas of France. This is a map that references the fires reported by a community of Internet users, in real time.
At this stage, the two fires that broke out in Landiras and La Teste-de-Buch (Gironde) did not claim a single victim. No one has been injured or died so far. Only the vegetation burned. These forest fires nevertheless led to the displacement of more than 14,000 people in the department.