Fires in France: tribute to the firefighters mobilized during a critical summer

Summer is hot, summer is dry and summer is unfortunately very hot. Since the arrival of extreme heat in May and the disappearance of the rains, France has experienced terrible fires, notably that in the South-West in July. On the front line, the firefighters, the firefighters, volunteers and professionals: the heroes of this summer.

Even if the season is not yet over and there is still a risk of burning down, 20 Minutes has decided to pay tribute to these courageous women and men, mobilized from Fontainebleau, to the Var to the Gironde or even the Pyrénées-Orientales, by returning, in images, to the terrible fires of this summer.

No rest for the firefighters, therefore. At night, after the large forest fires which ravaged the Gironde region, the firefighters of Sdis 33, for example, continued to monitor the burned areas in search of hidden hot spots likely to reignite the fire. Crews systematically check for residual smoke, glowing embers and persistent underground combustion, before extinguishing remaining hot spots, drenching surrounding vegetation and verifying that the area is completely secure.

The day before the Sdis 33 night operation, the Marseille Fire Brigade (BMPM) was on the front line. The colossal Saumos fire, which had already ravaged 42,000 hectares of pine forest in Gironde a week after its outbreak, experienced a significant resurgence that day, fueled by intense heat and irregular winds in the town of Lanton. On the ground, at the end of July, BMPM firefighters were actively fighting the flames alongside local farmers who joined the battle, deploying their water tankers to water the burned land.

A few days earlier, between the towns of Lacanau and Porge, in New Aquitaine, the firefighters did not give up. On July 25, French firefighters battled one of the largest forest fires ever seen in the country. A month ago, more than 200,000 people had been evacuated. The fire was located that day less than 15 kilometers from the metropolis of Bordeaux. Despite the difficulty in controlling the fire, the firefighters kept smiling. In front of the photographers at least.

And there is no smoke without fire. Exhaustion of staff, lack of material and financial resources in the face of ever drier and hotter summers... even if they remain mobilized in the field, firefighters want answers and action in the offices. The firefighter unions quickly stepped up to the plate and asked the government for more resources. The reality on the ground has shattered the coldness of the policy of small economies in the face of climate change.