The fires reached the French Riviera, in full summer vacation. Several fires broke out in the south of France on Tuesday afternoon, notably in Cagnes-sur-Mer (Alpes-Maritimes), very close to Nice, and in Argelès-sur-Mer, in the Pyrenees-Orientales, not far from Perpignan. The inhabitants are being evacuated.
In Cagnes-sur-Mer, “a large fire is taking place, in an aggravated context due to strong winds and heat wave”, indicated the mayor of the neighboring city of Nice, Christian Estrosi, in a tweet.
It was accompanied by a video that shows flames devouring vegetation, near a road. “Traffic on the A8 and RN7 is interrupted, as is the movement of trains between Antibes and Nice,” added Strossie. The A8 is the coastal highway, taken by holidaymakers to get from Nice to the sea or to Montpellier and Nimes.
near nice
More than 80 firefighters were mobilized on the scene. They were at the end of the afternoon in a drowning phase of the fire, which spread near a highway and a railway. youA water bomber helicopter was also deployed in support.
The Mistral wind is blowing along with the high temperatures. The fire broke out around 3:00 p.m. near an inhabited area of the Domaine du Loup and the inhabitants of a residence had to be evacuated, specifying that the fire did not cause casualties or destroy homes.
The images are impressive. But the results are reassuring.
During a press conference, Ctain Rousguisto, commander of the Cagnes-sur-mer fire brigade, made an initial assessment of this forest fire. At sunset, the ctain indicated that the fire was no longer advancing. Firefighters are currently working on a “drowning operation”, which could last several hours, due to the access to the terrain classified as “difficult”. The cause of the fire remains to be determined.
In total, around thirty vehicles were deployed on this fire, which required the mobilization of 80 firefighters. The fire was fanned by strong gusts of wind of around 50 mk/h.
The firefighters, assisted by the police, confined the inhabitants of the area affected by the fire. The people who evacuated their homes were gathered by the police and firefighters, in a specific place, in safe conditions. In fact, there are no injuries to be regretted this Tuesday night.
In the eastern Pyrenees
One hundred firefighters were also hard at work in Argelès-sur-Mer, south of Perpignan, where a fire broke out near a castle, around 3pm Tuesday afternoon, according to French 3 Occitanie. Around 4 in the afternoon, five hectares of vegetation had already burned and a campsite had also been evacuated.
Two water bomber helicopters and civil security were dedicated to supporting the firefighters, according to France 3.
Civil security asks the population to Avoid the sector and facilitate access to rescue services.
Other fire starts were reported Tuesday afternoon in Luceram and Bairols, in the Alpes-Maritimes, and in Draguignan (Var), according to the site Forest fires and natural areas, which lists the fires in real time.
The Red Alert maxim unleashed at Bouches du Rhône had its good reasons. Two fires broke out late Tuesday afternoon in Arles and Velaux.
Important media moved to control the fire, which quickly devastated 2 hectares. At 6:30 pm there were 300 firefighters, four Canadier fire fighting planes, a water bombing helicopter and a Dash water bomber plane deployed.
The department had been installed on “high alert” thanks to the forest and fire risk calendar, which France has launched since June.
Another 18 departments in the south-east and west of France were placed on fire alert on Tuesday by the Meteo France Forest Weather Service. The Bouches-du-Rhône are affected by the “red surveillance”, the highest level, activated in France for the first time since the implementation of this system in June.
In red vigilance, “weather conditions make the risk of starting and spreading wildfires and vegetation is very high compared to the normal summer values”, specifies Meteo France on its website.
“Bouches-du-Rhône and, in general, all the departments of the Mediterranean area will be affected by a situation of strong winds, with the tramontana and the mistral,” stressed Colonel Jean-Luc Beccari, director of the Fire and Rescue Service.
Access to most of the wooded massifs of the Côte d’Azur will be totally prohibited, including the very touristy coves between Marseille and Cassis.
According to the Institute of Marine Sciences of Barcelona, the temperature of the Mediterranean Sea reached 28.71ºCrecord for the period 1982-2023.
“The waters of the Mediterranean Sea experienced this Monday its highest known daily temperature.” the main Spanish maritime research center announced to AFP on Tuesday, July 25, in the midst of an exceptional heat wave over a large part of the Mediterranean basin. One of the “hot spots” of global warming.
“A new record has been broken in the period 1982-2023 for the average daily temperature of the sea surface in the Mediterranean with 28.71ºC,” say researchers from the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM) in Barcelona, analyzing satellite data from the European Copernicus observatory. The previous record of 28.25°C dated August 23, 2003.
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Source: Clarin
