France is the fourth most wooded European country. In mainland France, the forest covers 17.5 million hectares, 32 % of the territory, according to the National Institute of Geographic and Forest Information (IGN).
2022: Megafy in Gironde
The Gironde, with in particular the Megafeux de la Teste-de-Buch, in the Arcachon Basin, and in the Landiras and Hostens sector, south of Bordeaux, accounts for nearly 600 fires in the summer, 48,000 people evacuated and some 30,000 hectares of destroyed forest.
Strong heat and persistent dryness amplify the risk of fires in France where nearly 72,000 hectares of forest have burned. This is six times more than the average of recent years with unpublished fires as in the Jura.
Archives Guillaume Bonnaud
2021: two dead in the Moors
A violent fire fueled by a swirling wind ignites part of the Maures massif, between Cogolin and the Luke, mid-August.
More than 6,000 hectares go up in smoke in the hinterland of Saint-Tropez, 10,000 people are evacuated and two charred bodies found in a house.
2019: “Winter fires”
No gigantic fires that year in France, and yet more than 43,000 hectares in total are destroyed. With a particularity: the importance of winter fires. 36,000 hectares went up in smoke between January 1 and February 26 (effis).
2017: refugees in Bormes
At the end of July, in a few hours, fires fueled by strong winds in Haute-Corse, Vaucluse, Bouches-du-Rhône and Var reduce more than 7,000 hectares to ashes.
On July 26, the flames threaten the seaside resort of Bormes-les-Mimosas (VAR) and 10,000 people were evacuated. Hundreds of vacationers spend the night in their car or on the beach to escape the flames.
2016: at the gates of Marseille
Attisated by the Mistral, several fires quickly spread north of Marseille. The fire arrives on August 10 at the gates of the Marseille city, destroying 3,300 hectares, 25 buildings, a school group and a high school, fortunately deserted.
2009: Sécheresessa Corse
Drought made the fires formidable at the end of July 2009 in Corsica. Gravona valley, north of Ajaccio, regions of Sartène and Aullene: more than 5,300 hectares go up in smoke.
2003: Moors and Esterel
At the end of July 2003, fires of criminal origin ravaged the Moors massif, killing four people and resulting in the evacuation of 6,000 vacationers and residents.
A month later, in Cogolin (Var), three firefighters perished in their truck surrounded by the flames. That summer, 20 % of Moors and Esterel are destroyed, some 20,100 hectares out of the 100,000 in the two massifs.
This Castellumages, Sonsont of Brûhers, Brotherans in Corsica, Retard Au Cap Corse.
1990: 23,000 hectares destroyed
The summer of 1990 is formidable for the Moors massif (Var): 12,500 hectares destroyed in late August. From August 21 to 25, the fires ravage 23,000 hectares of vegetation between Marseille and Nice.
1989: Lacanau and Marseille
The month of July 1989, particularly warm and dry, was conducive to fire departures in the South. On July 20, a gigantic fire ravaged 5,000 hectares of pines near the Lacanau pond (Gironde) and forced the evacuation of thousands of vacationers.
At the end of August, Marseille was in turn licked by the flames. On the 29th, 10,000 hectares left for smoke, in less than 24 hours, in the Southeast and Corsica.
“Southwest” archives
1976: La Palmyre
The furnace of the summer of 1976, the extreme drought and the gesture of a pyromaniac transform the forest of La Palmyre (Charente-Maritime) in Brasier, on August 20, in the midst of a tourist season.
Stuck between flames and ocean, hundreds of vacationers are evacuated from the beach by a norria of boats. That summer, a record of 80,000 hectares in France are burned.
“Southwest” archives
1949: the “big fire”
Leaving on August 19 of a Saucat sawmill, south of Bordeaux, a fire devastating within a few days 50,000 hectares of pines, killing 82 people. Mainly waters and forest agents, volunteer firefighters and soldiers who came to fight the flames. This “big fire” of the Landes of Gascogne remains one of the deadliest in France.
