GIRONDE FIRES. For 13 days, the Gironde was ravaged by two very large fires. The images of La Teste-de-Buch and Landiras show a spectacle of desolation, sadly bringing the month of July 2022 into the history of the department.
For 13 days, the Gironde was transformed into a real inferno. Two major fires broke out in the department, in two different places, on the same day, taking on historic proportions. It was in La Teste-de-Buch, near Arcachon and the Dune du Pilat, not far from the Atlantic Ocean, that the first flames broke out on Tuesday July 12, 2022, before a fire started. also, a little later in the day, further east inland, near Landiras. For nearly two weeks, the firefighters fought to try to slow down the advance of the two fires, only managing to fix that of La Teste-de-Buch after 11 days, on Saturday July 23, that of Landiras being came completely under control two days later, Monday July 25.
An end to the progression of the fires which allowed the 36,750 inhabitants evacuated throughout the department to return to their homes: 20,000 had to leave it by prevention in the face of the advance of the fire in La Teste, when the other 16,000 evacuations concerned Landiras and surrounding municipalities. All were able to return to their homes as soon as the fires were brought under control.
In La Teste-de-Buch, the burnt pine forest has turned into a landscape of disaster, at the foot of the very touristic site of the Dune du Pilat. On the Landiras side, the desolation is increased tenfold given the burned area, twice as large as on the coast. “The particularity of this crisis in Gironde is due to its duration, almost two weeks, to its scale, 20,800 hectares burned and 36,750 inhabitants evacuated, and to the simultaneity of these fires which can be described as extraordinary”, summarized the prefect Fabienne Buccio.
In La Teste-de-Buch, in Gironde, the fire broke out on Tuesday July 12 at 3:11 p.m. The start of fire is accidental, said the mayor of the town, Patrick Davet at the microphone of France Blue Gironde, Saturday July 16, 2022. A hypothesis confirmed by several concordant sources. The breakdown of a thermal vehicle, such as a van according to some accounts, is the cause of the fire starting. The vehicle was parked on the low side of runway 214 at the edge of the pine forest, allowing the flames to spread in a few minutes.
According to police information reported by South West, the driver is an employee of a campsite who was going to the recycling center when he broke down. Seeing the flames, the driver immediately called the emergency services, but did not have time to use his extinguisher. An investigation is underway for “involuntary destruction by fire of wood, forest, due to a breach of a security obligation” specified the public prosecutor of Bordeaux, Frédérique Porterie, on July 18. The prosecution added that, for the time being, the damaged vehicle is inaccessible, but that as soon as the situation allows it, it will be placed under seal and examined to “establish the causes of the fire”.
In Landiras, the fire started the same day at 4:35 p.m. But, there, it would be of criminal origin. The Bordeaux prosecutor said 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 fire outbreaks noted 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. He was suspected to be the source of some fires, but not the main fire, according to France Blue Gironde. He had finally been released and is exonerated on Wednesday July 20.
Where were the fires that ravaged part of the Gironde? First, a first fire was 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 had headed south, along the Atlantic coast, destroying part of the vegetation which also bordered the lake of Cazaux. Further east, it was from Landiras that the second fire had started, 45 km south of Bordeaux, which had spread to the west.
After 13 days of fighting the fires in La Teste-de-Buch and Landiras (Gironde), no casualties were reported. Not even one injured. 36,750 people have been evacuated and are now gradually returning to their homes. Only vegetation and material damage are to be deplored.