Météo-France had placed the Gard on Friday July 8 “on maximum alert for forest fires” due to the heat, gusts of wind and vegetation weakened by extreme and early drought. 650 hectares of forest have been ravaged since Thursday July 7.
The fire which has ravaged 650 hectares of forest since Thursday July 7 in the Cévennes, in the north of Gard, evolved “favorably” Friday July 8, in a “high-risk context” where firefighters were overworked with other fire starts to manage in the department.
ud83dude92 The fire which has already ravaged 630 hectares of forest since Thursday in the north of Gard will last “several days”, fanned by a very strong wind, “absolute enemy” of the firefighters #AFP #AFPTV
ud83dudcf9 @ysisbox u2935ufe0f pic.twitter.com/JTDufXM0Hc
– Agence France-Presse (@afpfr) July 8, 2022
Météo-France had placed the Gard on Friday “on maximum alert for forest fires” due to the heat, gusts of wind and vegetation weakened by extreme and early drought. In the north of the department, near the Ardèche, some 745 firefighters from all over France remained mobilized for the “mega-fire”, according to the term used by the relief services, which have been mobilizing them since Thursday evening.
“A very long fire to end”
But there are still “a few occasions” of fire, according to the firefighters. “At the moment, it’s a combination of surveillance and treatment of the edges. We are not on a controlled fire”, explained at the end of the afternoon the lieutenant-colonel Olivier Tudela.
“We are working on the fire on its edges, but it will be a very long fire to finish because there are kilometers of edges. We will be able to speak of a controlled fire when there is no longer any risk of resumption. But with the very unfavorable weather conditions that we are facing, it may not be before Sunday,” Lieutenant-Colonel Eric Agrinier, communications officer for the Gard firefighters, told AFP.