A wildfire broke out in the inland mountainous area of Saint-Tropez, a tourist resort in the Var province of the Côte d'Azur in southern France, where a large area of woodland was overheated on the evening of August 16, thousands of tourists were evacuated, and 900 firefighters were still struggling to extinguish the fire on August 17. According to Agence France-Presse, French President Emmanuel Macron, accompanied by Interior Minister D'Ammanan, inspected the fire safety command center in Le Luc town in the evening of the same day to meet with rescue workers and firefighters. "The worst-case scenario was avoided," he said, and the fire did not kill people, "but the fighting continues.".
The area of the fire was 6,000 hectares
In recent times, from Turkey to Greece to Morocco, many countries along the Mediterranean coast have been frequently burned, and France has been spared for a time, without too much fire, but this time it has encountered the largest summer wildfire.
The fire broke out at around 5:45 p.m. on the 16th from the heart of the Plaine des Maures nature reserve. The firefighters fought all night and continued to fight on the 17th. Olivier Pecot, fire chief of Var Province, said: "At least 5,000 hectares of fires have been fired, there are re-ignited fires everywhere, and the mountain fires are far from extinguished." The wind was getting stronger, the wind direction changed a little, and the fire began to burn into areas that had not burned before." He said it was too early to assess the total burned area that day.
In the evening of the same day, the relevant parties assessed that the area of fire exceeded 6,000 hectares and was still rekindling.
By the afternoon, 900 firefighters were battling the wildfires.
According to data, a total of 2,340 hectares of mountainous land were burned in the Mediterranean region of France this year, compared with 7,698 hectares last year. The area of the fire reached 6,000 hectares, which shows the scale.
"A race against time"
A place called les Seillons, part of the town of Gonfaron, is very close to the point of fire. The atmosphere here on the 17th is still very tense, and 7 forest fire fighting planes keep going back and forth, pouring water on the forest and bushes to extinguish the fire.
Nathalie Gecele, who was in her fifties, left her home at night at the urging of the gendarmes, and during the day she saw her house unharmed, but she was still uneasy; and the civil security service helicopters were still circling overhead. "I was so worried that the fire would engulf my house and my son insisted on staying here. I really thought the fire would burn the house down, when the fire was very close."
A volunteer firefighter in the town of Gonfalon was very sad, "This is my forest burning." Be sure to be fast, it's a race against time. Everywhere there is a rekindling, and the fire is burning in all directions." Smoke billowed from multiple locations, and the fire spread towards the surrounding hills.
The Massif des Maures highway is flanked by charred telephone poles, and from time to time you can see charred vineyards.
There were no casualties
A spokesman for the Var Fire Brigade said, "Just in case, we evacuated thousands of people, but fortunately there were no casualties". The gendarmes added that 120 people were deployed, 6 campground holidaymakers were evacuated, and more than a dozen homes were burned down.
Nearly 1,300 people, mostly holidaymakers of campsites, were transferred to the village's gymnasium around bormes-les-Mimosas. Sylvie Defrancheschi, a holidaymaker from Upper Savoie, said the evacuation, although it was carried out at night, "we were evacuated in 30 minutes." The evacuation was excellent and well coordinated and no one panicked. Thank you to the rescue team, they really did everything to ensure we were safely evacuated".
Someone elsewhere had a tough night. For example, three vacation families at la Môle campsite fled when the fire came. "We first smelled a strong smell of smoke around 7 p.m. and then saw a fire on the hill. When we saw the fire, we hurried away." "We were so frightened that we took only a few things, paper, stuffed toys for the kids and cushions, and fled... (At night) tried to sleep in the car for a while."
Half of the nature reserve was burned
Environmental damage is very serious. Concha Agero, deputy director of the Office français de la biodiversité, said: "Half of the Plains de Mohr nature reserve has been burned. This is disastrous because it is one of the few Herrtue d'Hermann habitats." She hopes that Herman tortoises will be able to hide underground for fire, but estimates that the snakes that haunt the area are unlikely to survive.
A resident of the town of Gongfaron said, "Seeing a lot of hares running, I put a Herman tortoise into the river in the hope that it would survive."
Air pollution in Corsica is severe
Because of the impact of the wildfire in Var Province, Corsica experienced serious air pollution on the 17th. At noon, the Corsican air quality warning department sounded the alarm.
The department said the pollution "stemmed from the fires currently raging in Vaal province, which covered thousands of hectares." "Since near noon, the measuring stations have recorded a significant increase in the density of suspended particles in the air, which come from the fire area ... We confirm that this phenomenon can be observed with the naked eye in most parts of Corsica". "It is currently unpredictable when this pollution will end, depending on the evolution of the fires in Var and meteorological conditions."
"The next few hours are decisive"
President Macron arrives in the evening at the command centre in the town of Leruc, an hour's walk from fort de Brégançon, where he is on vacation. "The fighting is going on, the fires haven't been contained, they haven't stabilized, and the hours that follow are decisive," he said. ”
Speaking to gendarmes, firefighters and local public opinion representatives at the scene, Macron said the fires did not cause casualties among holidaymakers and local residents, "thanks to you." "Despite 3 firefighters injured, our fire brigade continues to fight"
He thanked the local village mayors for receiving holidaymakers, including foreign holidaymakers, and for providing protection to holidaymakers, reflecting the spirit of solidarity.
Macron also said it was the first fire this summer and wanted everyone to be "cautious" because "we were fortunate not to have suffered too many wildfires before compared to some of our neighbors."
Nine firefighting planes were watered overnight
Residents and firefighters in Var province cannot forget the fires of the summer of 2003, when three firefighters were killed. Fire Brigade Colonel Eric Grohin said the fire continued on the same path as the 2003 fire, but spread faster, reaching 8 kilometers per hour in the mountains. The priority of firefighters is to protect villages and settlements, "when the fire suddenly jumps forward 700-800 meters, in fact, we can't do anything but try to save lives and houses." He also said that nine forest firefighting planes were still taking turns pouring water to extinguish the fire that night.
(Editor: Summer Rain)