The Var firefighters are worried about the risk of fire with the arrival of 200,000 spectators for the French Formula 1 meeting. The Var is on drought alert and the start of ozone pollution is scheduled for Saturday July 23.
La marseillaise à pétanque 2022, 61st edition of the world –
The Grand Prix de Castellet – the Formula 1 meeting in France – is held on the weekend of July 22 to 24. And this, despite difficult weather conditions. : the Var department has been on heatwave orange alert for a few days70 communes in the department have gone into “drought crisis”, including the commune of Le Castellet and 31 degrees are expected on Saturday, according to Météo France forecasts.
“The forest is in such a dry state that anything can cause a fire to start: the slightest cigarette butt, the embers of a barbecue, an electrical breakdown on a vehicle or a malicious act“, Jacquet Baudot, Var firefighter in charge of the device of the Grand Prix du Castellet, is alarmed.
To deal with these risks, the SDIS du Var mobilized 200 firefighters on the site, two helicopters are also placed at strategic locations.
Dominique Lain, president of the Var firefighters, worried in a statement released on July 21 that most of the air fleet is in Gironde and therefore difficult to mobilize quickly. Jacques Baudot confirms: “Normally, the fleets are in Nîmes so in 35, 40 minutes the helicopters can arrive on site. But there from the Gironde, it would take several hours“.
The head of the western group of Var firefighters also fears simultaneous fire outbreaks: “we have a device sized to respond quickly to a fire outbreak but if there are several, it will become complicated“, he explains.
A start of ozone pollution is also expected in the Var, this Saturday July 22 according to Atmosud, the air quality observatory in the PACA region.
This polluting gas comes from the combination of two chemical compounds: nitrogen oxide, emitted in particular by road traffic, and volatile organic compounds, the main origin of which is industrial activity or plants. This chemical reaction takes place under the action of the sun’s rays.
“The conditions are favorable for the creation of nitrogen because we are in a dynamic of starting on vacation, so there will be road traffic this weekend, and in addition we are in a heat wave“, warns Florence Peron, study engineer at Atmosud.
This polluting gas may cause coughing, chest discomfort, painful discomfort on deep inspiration and shortness of breath.
Even if the Grand Prix will generate road traffic – on the circuit but especially because of the 200,000 people who will go there – it is not in the Castellet area that the situation will be the most tensetempers the air quality specialist.
“There is necessarily an impact because it emits pollutants but they are lucky that it happens in an area where there are no big industries, so no volatile organic compounds“, specifies Florence Peron.
The risk is that these compounds could be brought back by breezes from the neighboring Bouches-du-Rhône, which has been dealing with ozone pollution for several days.
“The danger of dehydration is also significant, there are long walks in the circuit, this will require caution“, adds firefighter Jacques Baudot.
The Grand Prix has implemented prevention messages.
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