AVEYRON FIRE. Declared Monday between the departments of Aveyron and Lozère, the fire was no longer progressing this Wednesday morning. However, the situation remains complicated on uneven ground.
The fire which affected the surroundings of two villages in Aveyron after having declared itself in Lozère, is no longer progressing this Wednesday, August 10 according to the latest feedback from firefighters and local authorities. However, it is not fixed and the firefighters estimate that it will take several days to manage to contain the fire. The village of Mostuéjouls, the closest to the hearth of the fire which ravaged a pine forest, was completely evacuated. As a reminder, 3000 people, campers on vacation in this tourist area of the Gorges du Tarn and residents, had been evacuated overnight from Monday to Tuesday. The fire ravaged 700 hectares of vegetation in a steep and difficult to access area for firefighters. The fire broke out on Monday in Massegros Causses Gorges in Lozère before spreading to Aveyron on the evening of Monday August 9.
On Tuesday, the firefighters had lit tactical fires to burn the vegetation preventively, but several outbreaks reactivated during the day. Several canadairs were called to fight the fire while on the ground, the firefighters encountered the greatest difficulties because of the heat and the wind which constantly changed direction. Two firefighters were slightly injured on Tuesday, according to Colonel Souyris, from Sdis de l’Aveyron, during his update on Tuesday, August 9. According to the investigators, the fire would be of accidental origin, as explained by Colonel Frédéric Brachet: “It would be a priori an incident, it would not be a deliberate act or a culpable clumsiness.”