HOSTENS, FRANCE (AFP) – French firefighters tackled wildfires raging in the country’s southeast on Saturday as officials kept a wary eye on a huge blaze that appeared to be contained further west.
France has been buffeted this summer by a historic drought that has forced water use restrictions nationwide, as well as a series of heatwaves that experts said are being driven by climate change.
On Saturday, a reignited “virulent” fire in the Aveyron department near Toulouse forced the evacuation of more than 130 people, officials said, while another blaze in the department of Drome, south of Lyon, progressed.
A fire in the Broceliande forest in the northwestern region of Brittany devastated nearly 400 hectares but officials said on Saturday the fire was no longer progressing.
A 40-kilometre fire front in the Gironde and Landes departments around Bordeaux also “did not significantly progress overnight. Firefighters are working on its periphery”, police said in a statement.
“We remain vigilant” because “while we can’t see huge flames, the fire continues to consume vegetation and soil”, Arnaud Mendousse, of Gironde fire and rescue, told AFP.
Officials suspect arson may have played a role in the latest flare-up, which has burned 7,400 hectares since last Tuesday.
Weather forecasters are expecting thunderstorms with winds of up to 60 kilometres an hour.
The wind “could reignite the fire” that “is in a state of pause”, Mendousse warned.
In a bid to keep the situation contained, firefighters in Gironde on Saturday were busy dousing the hot and still smoking earth with water.
Traditional firework displays have been banned in several areas.
Corsica was lashed by winds travelling at 95 kilometres an hour overnight and hit by hail, Meteo-France said.
Forecaster Claire Chanal said the storms expected this weekend could lead to flooding and hail.
European Union members have pledged reinforcements totalling 361 firefighters to join the roughly 1,100 French ones on the ground, along with water-bombing planes.
Most of the reinforcements had arrived on the ground, with the last 146 firefighters from Poland arriving late afternoon on Saturday.
“Here we are all volunteers. We’re trained, we want to help,” said German firefighter Tone Neuhalfel.
The Atlantic port of Brest hit 35.9 degrees Celsius, a record for the month of August.
The blaze near Bordeaux erupted in July, destroying 14,000 hectares and forcing thousands of people to evacuate. But it continued to smoulder in the tinder-dry pine forests and peat-rich soil.
Fires in France in 2022 have ravaged an area three times the annual average over the past 10 years.
European satellite data showed more carbon dioxide greenhouse gas – over one million tonnes – had been released from 2022’s forest fires in France than in any summer since records began in 2003.
