The day after the fire that burned 500 hectares in Argelès-sur-Mer, Saint-André and Sorède, the inhabitants discovered a charred landscape. A campsite, houses and a warehouse suffered very serious damage. The Minister of Ecology Christophe Béchu went there.
The fire broke out at the end of the afternoon in the town of Saint-André, at the foot of the Albères massif in the south of the Pyrénées-Orientales, before spreading to Argelès-sur-Mer and Sorède.
This Tuesday morning, 450 firefighters remain mobilized. In Saint-André, they remain vigilant and try to contain the outbreaks of fire. Watch the images shot in the morning by Victoire Panouillet and Lou Florentin.
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Tuesday morning, firefighters were trying to avoid resumption of fire in smoking debris, like here in Saint-André. • ©Lou Florentin
Thirty houses were affected by this violent fire, explained the prefecture on Tuesday morning. Eight of them underwent “very serious damage”.
The still smoking debris of a house in Saint-André, Tuesday morning. • © RAYMOND ROIG / AFP
The charred furniture of a house in Saint-André the day after the fire that affected the Pyrénées-Orientales. • © RAYMOND ROIG / AFP
A house ravaged by flames in Saint-André. • © RAYMOND ROIG / AFP
“The good news is that we have no victims”, explained the prefect according to AFP. The Departmental Fire and Rescue Service (Sdis) of the department reports 17 firefighters slightly injured after inhaling fumes. A firefighter fell heavily and was taken to hospital. Minister Christophe Béchu wanted to be reassuring about his state of health, which no longer caused concern at the end of the day.
Mechanically and for long hours, the firefighters – 630 in total fought against the fire – worked to drown all the fumaroles to prevent the fire from restarting where they had come to end.
A firefighter tries to drown the last fumaroles of the fire which partly ravaged the garden of this dwelling in Saint-André. • © RAYMOND ROIG / AFP
The Chênes Rouges campsite located west of Argelès-sur-mer, on the road to Sorède was engulfed in flames last night. This Tuesday morning, on going to the scene, witnesses were able to see that bungalows were on the ground and that the trees had been charred.
“There is nothing left”, “it’s impressive” can be heard on this video shot by witnesses on Tuesday morning.
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The flames reached the Les Chênes Rouges campsite in Argelès-sur-Mer. • ©Maxence and Aubin Blanchet
Smoke was still rising from the debris visible on the ground of the campsite. This is one of the fears of firefighters, new fire starts.
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After battling violent and threatening flames, firefighters are now concentrating their efforts on drowning the fire to prevent new outbreaks of fire. At the Red Chênes campsite, the debris was still smoking on Tuesday morning. • ©Maxence and Aubin Blanchet
The Minister of Ecology Stéphane Béchu went there on Tuesday afternoon. He could see the damage. “The campsite is devastatedhe explains. The situation is quite simple: when the fire started to spread in the bungalows, the gas cylinders inside started to cause explosions, which made it impossible to send fire soldiers to the in the midst of these serial traps and explosions.”
Almost the entire campsite caught fire and disappeared under the flames.
Christophe Béchu, Minister of Ecological Transition
The Chênes Rouges campsite is located at the foot of the Albères massif, an area classified red yesterday by the Pyrénées-Orientales prefecture, that is to say that the fire risk there was considered “exceptional”. This was still the case this Tuesday, August 15, 2023.
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