Virulent fire in Aude: evacuation of more than a hundred residents and the Puilaurens castle

More than a hundred residents of a village in Aude were evacuated this Friday and brought to safety, under the threat of a virulent fire. This fire, which broke out around 4 p.m. in the town of Puilaurens, devastated around a hundred hectares of vegetation in two hours.

“Ultimately 32 people from the hamlet of Lavagnac were evacuated as well as the Château de Puilaurens as a precaution,” informed the Aude prefecture in a press release. Located in the Pyrénées-Orientales, the so-called “Cathar” castle of Puilaurens, listed as a UNESCO world heritage site, was also evacuated.

While the departments of Aude and Pyrénées-Orientales are placed on orange heatwave alert by Météo-France, the means mobilized to prevent the spread of the fire are important. Two hundred firefighters on the ground, from Aude but also from the neighboring departments of Pyrénées-Orientales and Hérault, are supported by seven Canadairs, two Dash planes, a Morane 11 helicopter.

“Two firefighters were slightly injured”, underlines the prefecture. In this rural environment, “accessibility conditions are particularly restrictive for ground work and weather conditions remain unfavorable due to the high heat”.