The south of France is battling the flames again. As hundreds of firefighters try to control the tires, thousands of residents and vacationers have been evacuated as a precaution.
An estimated 3,000 campers and residents of villages north of Montpellier had to leave the area as a precaution. The fear is that the fire, which has already destroyed 700 hectares there, will spread even further.
The fire burns on a rocky outcrop that is hard to reach. This, along with dryness, makes extinguishing very difficult. So the French fire brigade estimates that it will take another three days to bring the fire under control. Two firefighters were slightly injured.
Things also go wrong in the Gironde, the southwestern region around Bordeaux. A large fire broke out in Landeras on Tuesday. This comes on top of the massive fire that broke out there last July. At least 3,500 people have been evacuated from the forested area as a precaution, and 1,000 hectares have already been destroyed there.
The fire brigade considers the situation “extremely unfavorable” due to wind and drought and expects to be busy putting out the fire at least overnight. He is in danger to his life, as can be seen in the pictures below. “Go back to hell again,” the French fire brigade wrote on Twitter, posting the photos.
In all, more than 50,000 hectares have been burned in France this year. In July, the country had a record number of burned areas. This was shown by calculations made by the European Commission’s Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), which has been keeping these statistics since 2006.
