How the violent fires in Gironde smoky Paris

The inhabitants of Ile-de-France were surprised to discover an ashen sky, accompanied by a strong smell of burning, this Monday evening: driven by the wind, the smoke from the Gironde forest fires crossed the whole of France.

This Tuesday evening between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m., the Ile-de-France firefighters were overwhelmed with calls from residents worried about seeing an ashen sky accompanied by a strong smell of burning. If several fires had actually started in the Paris region, in the forests of Yvelines among others, the main source of this smoke was in fact much more distant: it was the cloud of smoke from the gigantic fires in Gironde, Landiras and La Teste-de-Buch, 660 kilometers from the capital! The powerful southwest wind that developed during the day pushed these ashes in a vertical line that crossed the entire length of France.

The ash concentrations were particularly high for about an hour, and residents of the Paris region complained of tingling in the eyesirritation and cough.

The quality analysis bodyair, Airparifalso recorded an episode of high particle pollution at that time, up to 100 micrograms per cubic meter very briefly (the pollution threshold being set at 50).

This is not the first time that an ash cloud has crossed the country, and even more: in 2017, a cloud of smoke from the fires in Portugal colored the sky in the north-west of Portugal with orange and red. France.