Gard firefighters continued their fight, on the night of Thursday July 7 to Friday July 8, 2022, against “a mega fire” threatening thousands of hectares in the heart of the Cévennes. This Friday morning, the fire “is still free-spreading”said the lieutenant-colonel of the fire department of the department Eric Agrinier on the microphone franceinfo.
In Bordezac, on the Ardèche border, the very virulent disaster had already burned nearly 700 hectares of vegetation this Friday morning. Shortly before midnight, the fire had still “expanded”, according to the latest press release published by the prefecture, with 10 kilometers of active edge. And he threatened “thousands of hectares”.
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The firefighters were desperate, at the Bessèges command post. “We are continuing to ramp up resources because these are sectors that are very, very difficult to access. “, Testified the comptroller general of Sdis, Jean-Michel Langlais. Facing a wind “sustained all night, which will make our task very difficult, we have to make a very large network around the fire”he continued.
Minister Caroline Cayeux on the scene
Caroline Cayeux, Minister in charge of Territorial Communities, went there in the evening. A total of 900 firefighters have been planned to fight this disaster, she said, around 1:00 a.m., during a press briefing in Bessèges. She then announced that the pilots of the seven Canadairs and three Dash mobilized will resume their flight rotations around 06:30.
From Bessèges, large plumes of flames were visible Thursday evening on three hills quite distant from each other, AFP was able to see on the spot. The column of smoke, very impressive, was visible from the exit of Nîmes, more than 50 kilometers away.
“This fire is, how to say, a mega fire”had explained earlier in the evening the commander Tanguy Sagères, in charge of communication of the firefighters of Gard.
“We have to try to hold the ground because there has not yet been a fall of humidity, which arrives later in the night, and to wait for the relief in the morning”declared the sub-prefect of Alès, Jean Rampon, still at the command post of Bessèges.
“It really burned. These are maritime pines, very combustible. Tomorrow will be a spectacle of desolation. »he warned.
Residents evacuated, others confined
At the end of the evening, 70 people living in Bordezac had been evacuated to Aujac and Robiac Rochessadoule, two neighboring towns.
“I am putting people in rooms and all the lodgings have done the same”confirmed Régine Marchand, manager of the Aujac restaurant, Thursday evening. “We make them pasta, people left quickly, with nothing, but they keep their spirits up, there is a good atmosphere”.
Fifteen residents of a threatened area of Bessèges had also been relocated to a holiday camp, while the authorities recommended the other residents of this town, as well as those of Gagnières, to stay “confined”windows closed.
Other fires in the south of the department
Another fire was still raging in the night from Thursday to Friday in the Gard, in Générac, in the south of the department. Faced with this fire which covered 235 hectares of low vegetation and pines, nearly 150 men who were mobilized.
It was on the territory of this same commune of Générac that the pilot of a Tracker 22 lost his life in August 2019 while fighting a violent fire which had burned 800 hectares of vegetation.
35 fire starts in the Bouches-du-Rhône
In the neighboring department of Bouches-du-Rhône, firefighters had to deal with 35 fires on Thursday, and in particular in Arles, with a fire starting from reeds and brush in a commercial area.
Driven by a strong mistral, the disaster had quickly spread to finally skip the National 113, a strategic axis ensuring the junction of the A54 between Nîmes and Marseille, and cut it in both directions.
Four houses were burned, according to a first assessment of the emergency services, and four others damaged, but the fire was fixed around 8:00 p.m., like that of Martigues where a fire outbreak had caused the confinement of the inhabitants and the temporary evacuation of the residents of ‘a retirement home.
On Twitter, the General Directorate of Civil Security recommended great caution until Sunday “due to a very high danger of fires in the Mediterranean area ».
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