Holidaymakers flee as fire rages in S. France
Bormes-Les-Mimosas, (France), July 26: Firefighters in southern France on Wednesday spent a third day battling blazes that have forced over 10,000 people to flee in a region heaving with holidaymakers and left chunks of coastal forest a blackened mess. Thousands of tourists fled to the safety of public shelters after a fire broke out overnight in the village of Bormes-lesMimosas, on the Cote d’Azur, and swept towards the area’s campsites.
Firefighters are also trying to extinguish infernos in the mountainous hinterland, on the island of Corsica and in Portugal.
The head of the rescue operation in Bormes-lesMimosas, Serge La Vialle, said that more than 550 firefighters backed by five water bomber aircraft had not yet managed to contain the flames.
“It’s moving slowly and even growing a bit,” he said. Some of the evacuees ended up spending the night on the beach, but many families took shelter in a local gymnasium and public hall where volunteers served up drinks and breakfast.
Amelie, a German tourist from a family of nine, said she had woken to the sound of sirens. “We all gathered on the beach. The mountain was ablaze and the sky was red,” she told AFP. “The hills were all on fire, running right down to the sea,” Jean-Paul Poinsart, 68, said.
Since Monday, firefighters have been cris-crossing the southeast trying to extinguish infernos in a tinder-dry region buffeted by strong winds.
About 100 kilometres northwest of Bormes-lesMimosas, a pine forest in Peynier caught fire on Wednesday.
Local authorities said it risked consuming 1,000 hectares of forest but that no homes were in danger.
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe was due to visit the area on Wednesday evening.
Over 6,000 firefighters, troops and civil security officials backed by 19 water bombers have been deployed in total.
At least 12 firefighters have been injured and 15 police officers affected by smoke inhalation so far, officials said.
On Tuesday, Italy answered a French request for help, sending an extra two planes to scoop water from the sea to douse the flames.
France’s Cote d’Azur bulges in July and August as holidaymakers head to the beach.
Bormes-les-Mimosas “doubles or triples its population in summer”, a local fire official said.
The area is experiencing a particularly hot and dry summer that has made it especially vulnerable to fires.
Officials said they suspected Tuesday night’s blaze, which started in a caravan storage yard, was the work of arsonists. Other fires have been blamed on discarded cigarettes.
The fires have devoured around 5,000 hectares (15 square miles) of forest.
A trade unionist denounced what he said was a lack of spare parts preventing all of France’s water bombers from being put into action.
Interior Minister Gerard Collomb has promised to add six more firefighting planes to the fleet.
On Tuesday, a fire ripped along the coast in La Croix-Valmer near SaintTropez, a resort frequented by the rich and famous.
La Croix-Valmer’s deputy mayor Rene Carandante described a landscape of blackened headlands fringed by charred umbrella pines, where green forest had once framed the azure waters of the Mediterranean. “It’s a disaster area. There’s nothing left,” he said.
Francois Fouchier, of the local coastal conservation group, said that wildlife, such as the Hermann’s tortoise, would be victims of the fires. “We are going to find burnt shells.”