162 arrested – suspected of starting forest fires
13,566 fires have been registered in France
Nine out of ten of the French forest fires have been caused by humans – a total of 162 people have been arrested.
Now Macron has addressed the monster fire in Gironde:
– We are not giving up, he says.
The “fire monster” in France is devouring hectares after hectares.
On Monday morning, President Emmanuel Macron called the Council of Ministers to an emergency meeting at the Elysée Palace. The agenda included, among other things, the severe forest fires near Bordeaux. The meeting included ministers responsible for defense, the environment, transport and the interior.
Shortly before 5 p.m., a press conference began with, among others, Interior Minister Lauren Nuñez.
He said that since the start of the fire season, 13,566 fires or outbreaks have been recorded since January.
– The causes of the fires are of course the extremely high temperatures, the severe drought, the abundant vegetation and also the weather conditions that often worsen the situation, especially strong winds, says Nuñez.
He admits that the authorities knew that this fire season could be particularly difficult.
– In Gironde right now we have an unprecedented fire, it lives its own life. It is autonomous, it is self-sufficient, it goes a little in all directions. We are confronted in Gironde with an unprecedented phenomenon.
Rare cloud
He described how the massive fire created cumulonimbus flammagenitus, a “fire cloud” that forms during a severe forest fire.
– It projects glowing material very far and rises very high in altitude. It is a phenomenon that we have never observed on national territory.
Nuñez has previously told French media that it is not possible to rule out that the fire will reach Bordeaux.
– But the goal is to prevent the fire from spreading. We are digging fire roads, we are lighting tactical fires and we are creating fire-fighting zones.
– We have 2,500 firefighters, 18 aircraft, 1,500 soldiers with their machines that make it possible to build fire roads.
Bordeaux, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has a population of 270,000. On Monday, the fire was just a few kilometers from the outskirts of the city.
Thomas Cazenave, mayor of Bordeaux, said on Sunday that the authorities had no immediate plan to evacuate the city, RFI reports.
– The fire is still on the outskirts of the metropolitan area.
After the crisis meeting during the day, President Emmanuel Macron traveled to Gironde in southwestern France, arriving shortly before 7 p.m.
He will meet firefighters fighting the massive fire, among others, and praise the “national and international solidarity,” writes Le Monde.
“The coming weeks will be tough and we must persevere. We will win this battle together. The priority is life,” says Emmanuel Macron.
“We must remain humble. We are facing very harsh weather conditions.”
Firefighter: Scandalous
The criticism of President Emmanuel Macron is becoming increasingly harsh. Above all, the critics believe that not enough resources have been spent on firefighting, fire preparedness or forest protection.
Pilot Grégory Prats on Canadair’s firefighting aircraft tells L’Hermine Rouge:
“Of the twelve Canadair planes that France owns, we only have five available. It is simply scandalous.”
He tells Votre Actualité au Quotidien:
– Every time there is a fire, we have to divide our resources between the fires. Then we are there with patrols on two aircraft per fire and that is far too little.
– My first water fall doesn’t even reach the ground – everything evaporates before it has time to fall. It is only my third and fourth fall that really has an effect. But that requires four aircraft.
“Ten years of maintenance”
He says that he has taken water from the Seine to put out forest fires. The river was cleaned for 1.4 billion euros for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
– You could have bought fifteen Canadair planes and financed ten years of maintenance for that.
Macron addresses his critics:
– The time will come for lessons, but for now we must remain united, he says.
25 days have passed since the first major forest fire broke out in Le Sainte-Marie in Sainte-Marie-la-Mer in France.
About 116,085 hectares have burned so far in this year's forest fires in France. Laurent Nuñez described it as a historic record. During the previous major fire in 2022, 70,000 hectares of forest and vegetation burned.
The two largest fires right now are in Gironde and Landes in southwestern France. The largest is the one in Gironde, where 42,000 hectares have burned. That's the size of four Parises.
260,000 people have been evacuated so far in France.
Inga kommentarer:
Skicka en kommentar