The two fires that declared themselves on July 12 in the afternoon, one in the forest of La Teste-de-Buch, in the Arcachon basin, and the other in Landiras, at 40 kilometers south of Bordeaux, burned nearly 21,000 hectares of forest. The first is “fixed” while the second still escapes the control of fire soldiers.
Le Monde with AFP
The situation continues to improve on the front of the two important forest fires that have been hitting the Gironde for almost two weeks, even if the one who consumed 13,800 hectares in Landiras, in the south of the department, is Still not fixed, said the prefecture on Sunday July 24.
“Temperatures above 35 ° C [Sunday] caused the appearance of fumarolles and fire departures in the burned area which were treated by the 1,200 firefighters and the air resources still mobilized on the ground “, or two Canada and two Forest Fire Fire Attack helicopters, said the prefecture in a statement.
“These phenomena should decrease [Monday] with the announced drop in temperatures,” she added. Fire resumes have been driven by “heat, wind and drop in humidity” (humidity), said the firefighters of Gironde.
36,000 people evacuated
They did not make any victim but forced more than 36,000 people to leave their accommodation, including 6,000 vacationers evacuated from the five campsites of the Pilat Dune which were then destroyed by the flames.
The vast majority of these displaced people have been able to return home in recent days but a few thousand people evacuated from the Landiras sector have not yet been able to do so. “No new authorization could be granted [Sunday] to allow evacuated persons to reintegrate their housing. The authorities continue to study the area situation by sector,” assured the prefecture.
Since Saturday, the Teste-de-Buch fire is considered by the authorities as “fixed”, unlike that of Landiras which remains “content”. At La Teste, the tourist site of the Pilat dune is always inaccessible, according to the prefecture.
The prefect of Gironde Fabienne Buccio must bring together on Monday the elected officials and the economic actors of the two disaster areas to “prepare for the release of the crisis on the economic level”.