Gironde fires: pilat dune will be accessible again from July 27 under “secure conditions

The dune will only be accessible by bus and with very supervised access. The departmental road 218, which connects the teste-de-buch to Biscarrosse (Landes), will remain, for its part, closed until the complete security of the road and its surroundings.

Le Monde with AFP

Two weeks after the outbreak of two major fires in Gironde, which ravaged nearly 21,000 hectares of forest, the Pilat Dune site hitherto closed to the public will find its visitors from Wednesday. And this, “in secure conditions and with guided paths”, announced on Tuesday, the prefect of Gironde, Fabienne Buccio in a press release .

The decision was made with local communities, firefighters, police and the National Forest Office. The municipality of La Teste-de-Buch and the Mixed Syndicate Manager of the Pilat Dune Site will be responsible for organizing the safety of visitors. 2> accessibility to the site possible only by bus

The dune will only be accessible by bus with very supervised access, because the parking lot is damaged at more than 60 %, the mayor of La Teste-de-Buch told the press, Patrick Davet. Visitors have, moreover, the ban on going to the slopes damaged by fire.

“We will have to respect the instructions to the letter” to hope for a reduction in the supervision, added the councilor, explaining: “We want to loosen the vice as you go, but at the beginning the flows will necessarily be limited. You have to do everything to reopen this symbol. “

The prefecture of Gironde also specified that in “the absence at this time of sufficient security access to the burned massifs remains prohibited” in the forest of the teste-de-buch, which extends from the dune , where 7,000 hectares went up in smoke.

The departmental route 218, which connects the teste-de-buch to Biscarrosse (Landes) along the dune, will remain, for its part, closed until the complete security of the road and its surroundings.

After twelve days and thirteen nights of struggle, the two “extraordinary” fires affecting the department, which led to the evacuation of some 36,000 people, were officially declared “fixed” on Monday, even if the work for Turn off completely will continue for several weeks.

/Media reports.