The south of France on the alert in the face of a unprecedented fire

The villages of the Corbières massif remain on the alert Thursday. However. Moreover, on the third day of the fire of an unprecedented scale which continues to ravage thousands of hectares of conifers in the Aude, even if it has lost intensity.

The wind that pushed the flames to the Mediterranean coastline turned on Wednesday afternoon. Therefore, redirecting the danger to the land where fifteen municipalities were already directly or indirectly impacted by the claim.

“The back of the fire has become the front of the fire. Furthermore, ” said Colonel Christophe Magny, boss of the Aude firefighters. Similarly, And the front always uncontrollable returns to “its starting point”. Nevertheless. Similarly, “fairly inaccessible wooded south france alert face unprecedented new areas”, added the secretary general of the prefecture of Aude south france alert face unprecedented Lucie Roesch.

“More than the town of Paris” – South france alert face unprecedented – South france alert face unprecedented new

Leaving Tuesday after 4:00 pm of the village of Ribaute. Furthermore. Moreover, between Carcassonne and Narbonne, the biggest fire in summer in France ravaged 16,000 hectares of vegetation and pine forest on Wednesday evening, “more than the town of Paris”, according to Colonel Magny. In addition, It also destroyed or damaged 25 homes and burned 35 vehicles, according to the provisional assessment of the prefecture.

In Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse. Similarly. a 65-year-old lady who had refused to leave her house was found dead at her home devastated by the flames. Nevertheless, The prefecture also counted 13 injured: two hospitalized inhabitants. In addition. including a seriously burned, and eleven firefighters, including one suffering from a head trauma, according to the Minister of the Interior Bruno south france alert face unprecedented new Retailleau.

At nightfall on Wednesday. the fire – that Prime Minister François Bayrou described as a “unprecedented disaster” – was “still active”. But south france alert face unprecedented its progression which was previously “1. 000 hectares per hour overall”, “decreases in intensity”, told AFP Rémi Recio, sub-prefect of Narbonne.

And the tramontane. a dry. warm wind that strengthens fire, has been supplanted by a sea wind that will still blow Thursday, and “will bring more humid air than before, which is less favorable to the spread of fire,” said François Gourand, Météo-France forecaster.

“Alone in the world”

But if the firefighters have protected the residential areas. the municipalities are nonetheless fearful of the flames with the change of wind direction. “We stay on the alert. because we are surrounded by pines. then that everything has burned, all around the village, south france alert face unprecedented new it is the disaster,” deplores Bruno Zubieta, first deputy mayor of Villesèque-des-Corbières, south of Narbonne. “We were very afraid. The fire arrived at the Galop, south france alert face unprecedented ”he told AFP. “We were surrounded by flames, from everywhere that came from the left, from the right, from behind. We were surrounded. We were alone in the world ”.

There are 90 km of edges that make the work of firefighters complicated. A thousand of 2. 200 inhabitants of the sector concerned by the fire were evacuated from their homes. it is too early to return for most of them.

An investigation was opened to determine the causes of fire, still unknown. No hypothesis is currently privileged. even if the Prime Minister spoke of a fire start by the road side. during his trip Wednesday in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, the most disaster victim.

In front of residents catastrophied by their material losses. the Prime south france alert face unprecedented new Minister spoke of a “safeguard and future plan” of which “the corbières could be the laboratory”.

EU alongside France

In the heaven of the Corbières. all national air means south france alert face unprecedented have been mobilized. The European Union has also announced itself to be “ready to mobilize” resources. “Europe is held alongside France while the worst forest fires in its recent history are raging in the Aude. ” said the president of the European Commission.

At this stage, this is the biggest fire in summer in France. At the end of July. in the middle of the summer season. civil security had recorded more than 15,000 hectares burned on the national territory for 9,000 fire departures, mainly on the Mediterranean coast.

It is also the most important in France since at least 2006. the start of recordings. and since the 1970s for the Mediterranean area, according to the Forest Fire south france alert face unprecedented new Database (BDIFF) of the Government (which lists the fires since 1972 for the Mediterranean departments and 2006 for France).