A large fire that burnt down 600 hectares (1,500 acres) and prompted the evacuation of residents in the southern Gard region of France ended up fought by nearly 1,000 firefighters assisted by water-dropping planes.
The wildfire had been kept under control, but it would take days to put it out.
Mega Fire in Southern France
(Photo : Mike Newbry/Unsplash)
The wildfire had been kept under control, but it would take days to put it out, local authorities said on Friday.
Prefect of the Gard department Marie-Francoise Lecaillon said on Friday night's BFM television that things are currently getting better. The blaze has been put out.
A senior member of the fire service, Lt Col Eric Agrinier, added on Friday: This fire is far from being done. Fronts are advancing freely in hard-to-reach areas that we haven't addressed. He later added, citing the unfavorable weather, that It's heading to be a feat of endurance.
Firefighters put backfires in place to protect populated areas after the blaze broke out late on Thursday.
Jacques Pages spoke in front of a line of flames that was illuminating the pitch-black forest.
"We burn some parts of the forest so that when the fire spreads it reaches what is already a zone and slows down, making it easier to stop its advance," he said, as per The Guardian.
Emergency personnel called the blaze, which started close to the village of Bordezac and forced rescue operations from nearby Bessèges and other communities on Thursday night, a mega-fire.
The area, which is about 90 kilometers (55 miles) north of Montpellier and the Mediterranean coast, required the accommodation of about 100 people, according to the local prefect's office.
By Friday, only a garage and a small hut remained damaged, and people's homes were no longer at risk. On Friday morning, the Gard region fire service reported that 13 firefighters had minor wounds.
Two planes have been dropping water since dawn in addition to personnel on the ground. The air deployment included 12 firefighting aircraft and two helicopters as of Friday.
Roads leading into the Bessèges region were blocked off, and hundreds of firefighters-some dispatched from nearby regions-remained on the scene.
Southeast France has experienced drought this year, which has raised the risk of fires throughout much of the region.
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Drought enhances the level of risk
Southeast France has experienced drought this year, which has raised the risk of fires throughout much of the region, as per Phys.org.
Around 600 hectares of land were burned in a fire that was begun by shelling on an army artillery training range close to Marseille during an unseasonably hot spell last month.
On Thursday, 35 outbreaks within the Bouches-du-Rhone region required the assistance of firefighters, many of which were close to populated areas.
250 firefighters were dispatched to the brushfire in Saint-Mitre-les-Remparts after four houses were destroyed close to the southern city of Arles.
Although additional fires broke out in southern France on Thursday, the majority were extinguished before dusk.
Thousands of hectares of densely forested land were at risk, according to the fire service, as winds gusting up to 80 km/h (50 mph) fanned the flames through to the dried-out trees.
Firefighters' worst enemy is wind, according to Lieutenant Colonel Agrinier.
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