The Nouvelle-Aquitaine region is battling two exceptionally large wildfires. This Friday morning, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez announced that the flames had consumed more than 10,000 hectares in the Gironde and Landes departments. Approximately 40,000 people have already been evacuated or are in the process of being evacuated.
The fire that started in Saumos, north of the Arcachon Basin, remains out of control. It has burned through several thousand hectares of forest before directly threatening Lège-Cap-Ferret. Further south, a second blaze is spreading around Biscarrosse and Parentis-en-Born, in the Landes region. The two fires have already consumed more than 11,000 hectares in total.
The entire Cap-Ferret peninsula has been evacuated.
Faced with the advancing flames, the prefect of the Gironde department, Sophie Brocas, ordered the complete evacuation of the Cap-Ferret peninsula. Residents and vacationers still present were ordered to leave the area immediately via the RD106 towards Bordeaux or by sea. Ferry services were deployed from the jetties of Grand Piquey, Canon, the port of La Vigne, and Bélisaire. Several hundred people reached Arcachon by boat in the early hours of the morning. This general evacuation constitutes the final phase of the plan prepared to clear the peninsula. The villages of Claouey, Four, Jacquets, Petit Piquey, and Grand Piquey were initially affected before the order was extended to the entire territory.
The fire breached the firefighters' defense line.
The decision was made after the fire breached, around 1 a.m., the firebreak built by firefighters to slow the blaze and protect the peninsula. The flames continued to spread throughout the night despite the resources deployed on the ground and in the air. Before the new estimate announced by Laurent Nuñez, the prefecture reported that 8,700 hectares had been burned by the Gironde fire alone. The fire broke out on Wednesday, July 22, in Saumos before quickly spreading to Le Porge and then the Lège-Cap-Ferret area, driven by the wind through the pine forest. Nearly 20,000 people had already been evacuated in Gironde by Thursday evening. This number is now increasing with the mandatory departure of the last residents and tourists remaining on the peninsula.
Houses destroyed and a firefighter injured
The flames reached inhabited areas of Lège-Cap-Ferret. An initial preliminary assessment indicated that six houses were destroyed. No residents were injured, but a firefighter with a fracture had to be evacuated during the operation. A nursing home in Lège-Cap-Ferret was also evacuated as a precaution. Its residents were transferred to facilities able to accommodate them away from the threatened area.
The possibility of an accidental fire is being investigated. The fire could be linked to brush clearing work carried out under a power line, but the investigation still needs to establish the precise circumstances of its ignition.
More than 23,000 evacuations in the Landes region
In the Landes region, another fire broke out Thursday afternoon near Biscarrosse, along the D652 departmental road. It quickly spread towards Parentis-en-Born and had burned approximately 2,500 hectares by Friday morning. More than 23,000 people were evacuated in the area, mainly from campsites and residential neighborhoods. A holiday camp and a retirement home were also evacuated. Several dozen homes are believed to have been destroyed, but authorities are still working to complete a full assessment.
France is requesting European reinforcements
Emmanuel Macron France has requested the activation of the European Union's Civil Protection Mechanism. France is due to receive two Croatian Canadair water bombers, two Portuguese Air Tractor aircraft, and two heavy-lift Black Hawk helicopters from the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Operations remain extremely difficult due to wind, high temperatures, and dry vegetation. Authorities are urging the public not to enter evacuated areas, to keep roads clear for rescue workers, and to immediately follow all locally issued instructions.
