Several fires were recorded in the Bouches-du-Rhône this Friday, August 4, while the department is on red alert for forest fires, as is the Var.
[Updated August 4, 2023 at 5:38 p.m.] Fire starts are increasing in the south of France. Bouches-du-Rhône is the department mainly affected, the territory is on red alert for forest fires. A first fire first affected the Estaque district in Marseille, then Istres and Mouriès also saw fires affect their territories. The Nice hinterland is also under tension after a fire in Lieuche (Alpes-Maritimes). These lights have been fixed at present. However, the weather conditions do not encourage firefighters to be optimistic: “the danger of forest fires will remain high or even very high in the South-East of France” this weekend, according to Météo France.
The risk of fire is maximum in the Bouches-du-Rhône, where Météo France has issued a level 4 warning, the highest level. This means that the weather conditions are very conducive to fires and the risk of fire is very high. Var, Vaucluse and Hérault are also affected by a high risk of fire, while 15 other departments are on yellow alert, which means that there is a moderate risk of fire. Sunday, the Var will go on red alert.
Faced with the danger, the prefectures of Bouches-du-Rhône and Var have closed fifteen forest areas to the public. These closures are necessary to avoid as much as possible any spark that could start a fire. The Fire Prevention site lists the various closed forest areas. It is important to consult this site before going to a forest area, to ensure that it is open to the public.
Authorities fear the fires will spread quickly due to weather conditions, including wind, and dry vegetation. They call for everyone’s vigilance, because the risk of fires is very high locally. A major emergency system is in place with, for example, more than 150 patrols in the Var “responsible for watching for fire outbreaks and enforcing the ban on access to several massifs” according to Franceinfo. The authorities thus wish to avoid any catastrophic situation this summer.
In the Var, the list of massifs concerned is substantial: the Monts Toulonnais, the Corniche des Maures, the Iles d’Hyères, the Maures, the Sainte-Baume, the Haut-Var, the Center-Var and the Esterel. Any human presence, traffic and access to these areas are strictly prohibited. The authorities are worried about the scale of the situation, because never before, since the beginning of July, have so many Var massifs been closed simultaneously. The situation is also worrying in the Bouches-du-Rhône, where seven forest areas are also affected by this alert. Access to the Castillon, Sulauze, Arbois, Côte Bleue, Calanques, Cap Canaille and Grand Caunet massifs is prohibited, while in the other 17 massifs (the Montagnette massif will remain closed until June 30, 2024 inclusive), the Access is permitted until 1 p.m. Beyond this threshold, work is strictly prohibited to avoid any potential risk of fire.
Compared to the fires that rage along the Mediterranean rim, the fires in France do not have the same magnitude. Moreover, they bear no resemblance to the devastation caused by the flames last year in the south-west of the country. Catherine Robert, forest fire coordinator at Météo France, recalls that last year, at the same time, 20,000 hectares of forests had already burned, and the year ended with an alarming toll of 72,000 hectares of vegetation. gone up in smoke. This year, however, in mid-July, the figure was only 8,300 hectares, below the usual normal for this period.
In total, 17 French departments are placed on moderate vigilance in the face of forest fires, one is placed on high vigilance and one on very high, according to the map put in place by Météo France. Entitled “Forest Weather”, the map assesses daily the risk of fire in each French department according to various meteorological parameters (temperature, rain, wind force, air humidity), but also according to the state of drought vegetation. The tool should make it possible to fight against forest fires thanks to better prevention against fires.
Alerts do not predict a fire outbreak, but warn of the risk of a fire outbreak. While 9 out of 10 fires are of human origin, vigilance is more important than ever. Météo France reminds you of a few actions to avoid, such as throwing your cigarette butt in nature, for example.
Saturday August 5, the danger will always be very high in the Bouches-du-Rhône. Gard, Var and Vaucluse will be on orange alert and 16 departments will be on yellow alert for the danger of fires.
Sunday August 6, the Var joins the Bouches-du-Rhône on red alert with a very high risk of fires.
The Drôme has been hit by three fires lately. According to the prefecture, “three simultaneous outbreaks of fire were observed in the town of Pierrelongue, a few hundred meters away from each other, on a sloping and uninhabited area”. Two Canadairs and a bomber helicopter were dispatched to fix these fires.
Haute-Corse experienced large fires that destroyed some 200 hectares of forest, very close to the municipalities of Corbara, Borgo and Santa-Reparata-Di-Balagna. The situation is now under control, thanks to the responsiveness of the firefighters. A fire was also reported in Pigna in Corse-du-Sud.
The situation is worrying in the Bouches-du-Rhône, where seven forests are also affected by an alert. Access to the Castillon, Sulauze, Arbois, Côte Bleue, Calanques, Cap Canaille and Grand Caunet massifs is prohibited, while in the other 17 massifs (the Montagnette massif will remain closed until June 30, 2024 inclusive), the Access is permitted until 1 p.m. Beyond this threshold, work is strictly prohibited to avoid any potential risk of fire.
The department feared several fire starts due to a storm alert put in place by Météo France. The Forest Fires media lists fires reported by firefighters. The commune of Opoul-Périllos was the scene of an effective intervention by the SDIS66 to stop a fire starting. “The origin of the start of the fire could be linked to a lightning strike in a wooded area, particularly dry and close to dwellings”, according to Forest fires.
The situation is critical in Provence in the face of the risk of fire which threatens eight forest massifs in the Var and seven massifs in the Bouches-du-Rhône. The authorities are worried about the scale of the situation, because never before, since the beginning of July, have so many Var massifs been closed simultaneously. Half a hectare of forests went up in smoke on the island of Gaou.
From compulsory and facilitated measures for the preventive maintenance of forests to the strengthening of cooperation between agricultural and forestry circles, through suitable reconstruction projects, French forests will be better protected against the outbreak of fire. The legislative text reinforces measures already announced such as the “powerful rearmament” of firefighters, promised by Emmanuel Macron last October: more bombers and land vehicles available, 180 million euros allocated to services Departmental Fire and Rescue (SDIS) or increasing the fleet of French Canadairs to 16 planes by the end of the mandate. What concrete measures will be put in place? Will this reduce the loss of hectares of forest?
The risk of fire is no longer confined to the southern part of the country, as the fires observed in Finistère in the summer of 2022 have proven. The first step to better protect forests is therefore to put an end to “the heterogeneous preparation of territories for the risk of fire” according to the deputy LREM Girondine and rapporteur of the bill, Sophie Panonacle. The text was adopted at first reading in the National Assembly and the Senate. This law was thus promulgated on July 10.
The means of intervention must be able to be mobilized throughout the territory and no longer be concentrated solely on the southern half of France. This law puts an end to this distinction of territories. It is now planned “a national strategy for the defense of forests and non-wooded areas against fires” which must be set by “July 2024 by the ministries responsible for the forest, the environment, urban planning and civil security, in consultation with various actors such as the National Forestry Office (ONF) or local elected officials.
“The French fire management strategy is based on two pillars: preventive work in order to limit the outbreak of fires, and an immediate and massive fight against incipient fires”, writes Sophie Panonacle in the foreword to the bill. The adopted text presents several measures intended to facilitate the preventive maintenance of forests or to compel forest owners to maintain their land.
Preventive measures must considerably reduce the risk of fire or, if necessary, the spread of flames and the appearance of mega fires, but it is naive to believe that they will be enough to prevent all fire outbreaks. The interventions of the fire brigade will then, as today, be the only solution. These fire soldiers should logically be allocated more resources. “The Minister of the Interior recently undertook to make more water bombers available this summer” in addition to releasing “180 million euros to the SDIS [which] will allow the purchase of 1,100 fire-fighting devices”, notes MP Sophie Panonacle in the bill.
In the longer term, Emmanuel Macron promised in October 2022 to expand the fleet of French Canadairs to 16 aircraft, compared to 12 today, by the end of his second term. In addition to receiving reinforcements, the vehicles already available should be replaced.
The elected officials did not advance on the means allocated to the firefighters, but they thought of a measure which could save “tens of millions of euros” each year according to the calculations of Eric Pauget, deputy of the Alps -Maritimes and member of the law commission. A sum that could be used to complete the fleet of firefighters. How ? Exemption from excise duty – former internal consumption tax on energy products (TICPE) – on petrol and diesel for all SDIS vehicles. In the same way, the vehicles of these services are “exempt from ecological penalty and weight penalty. For private employers of volunteer firefighters who set up arrangements for them, a reduction in employer contributions is approved from 2024 to 2026. arrangements also concern volunteer firefighters who are students.
For the losses already recorded during the last major fires and for those that neither preventive measures nor the intervention of firefighters will be able to save, solutions must also be found. The hectares that have gone up in smoke can be reforested, but in a manner “adapted to the forest station and its foreseeable evolution due to climate change” according to article 35 of the law, that is to say with species of adequate wood and according to the methods which will be defined by decrees of the competent authorities. Reforestation should also “allow the maintenance of firebreak and support zones for the fight of a width defined by the authorities”. One of the objectives of the national forest replanting project is “the planting of a billion trees within 10 years” according to the Ministry of Ecology.
