The South of France still hit by fires. More than 230 firefighters have been mobilized in the Landes since this Saturday, August 28 afternoon, to control two fires that have destroyed at least 80 hectares of pine forest in the sectors of Mimizan and Seignosse.
For the time being, no victim is to be deplored.
The authorities have ordered preventive evacuations, announced the Landes prefecture. In Mimizan, the fire has burned 56 hectares of forest and mobilized more than 100 firefighters for 16 hours in a sparsely populated area. It “is now circumscribed”, announced the prefecture in its latest update.
Two fires are in progress between Escource and Mimizan and between Seignosse and Soustons. SDIS40 firefighters and the gendarmerie are currently engaged to control the fires. For your safety, avoid the RD 189 in the Etang Blanc sector in Seignosse.
– Prefect of Landes (@ Prefecture40) August 28, 2021
Update on forest fires in the Landes: The fire in Mimizan is now contained. The fire in Seignosse is still ongoing and is still actively mobilizing the SDIS40 firefighters.
– Prefect of Landes (@ Prefecture40) August 28, 2021
According to the prefect Cécile Bigot-Dekeyzer, “about twenty caravans of travelers located nearby were evacuated as a precaution and reinstalled on land in Mimizan”, or about twenty people according to the firefighters.
A fire is still going on
The other fire, which broke out later in the afternoon, 80 km away between Seignosse and Soustons, burning between 30 and 40 ha, was on the other hand “still in progress” shortly before midnight and was still mobilizing 130 firefighters, according to the prefecture.
On this site near the white pond, the situation was considered “more delicate” by the firefighters, their intervention being complicated by the configuration of the places, partly inaccessible, with “atypical reliefs and marsh areas”, specified an officer of the Landes firefighters.
In total, around forty gendarmes were mobilized to secure the surroundings of the two disasters. The RD 189 has been cut off in the Etang Blanc sector.