Wildfire in southern France slows but 10,000 remain evacuated, reinforcements due Tuesday
A wildfire that has burned 4,900 hectares in the Pyrénées-Orientales since Saturday slowed on Monday, but 10,000 people from 26 communes remain evacuated and additional firefighting aircraft are set to arrive Tuesday.
Fire progression and containment
The fire started on Saturday evening near Trévillach and spread rapidly through the wooded and scrubland terrain of the Aspres massif, driven by the tramontane wind. By Monday 6 July it had covered 4,900 hectares. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, visiting Ille-sur-Têt, said the fire was "stabilised in a number of places, but not completely fixed." The right flank remained the most worrying sector for firefighters, and new aerial resources were being deployed to attack it.
- Fire starts near Trévillach.
- Mass evacuations begin; Ille-sur-Têt and Rodès residents told to leave.
- Firefighting aircraft resume water drops at dawn; fire still uncontained.
- Vinça evacuation ordered as wind shifts and flames approach.
- Interior minister says fire stabilised in places but not fixed; 4,900 ha burned.
- Two national and six European aircraft expected to reinforce firefighting.
Evacuations and human impact
Since Sunday, 10,000 residents from 26 communes have been ordered to leave their homes. The village of Vinça, with 2,000 inhabitants, was evacuated urgently on Monday afternoon after the wind shifted and flames approached. Residents were given only minutes to pack. Evacuees were sheltered in nearby towns such as Prades and Thuir, arriving by car and bus with pets and luggage. Eleven people have been reported lightly injured, including seven firefighters.
It was very smoky, people were leaving in all directions, the beginning of an apocalypse.
Damage and losses
In Rodès, mayor Marc Bianchini said about twenty houses and thirty cars were destroyed. "In some places it looks like an atomic bomb hit, it's catastrophic," he told AFP. In Ille-sur-Têt, several homes and businesses were reduced to ashes, including a mason's workshop and half of a raspberry farm. A supermarket and a tobacco shop that had opened Monday morning later closed. Roads leading to the villages were cut off, and gendarmes patrolled to urge remaining residents to leave.
Everything around the village is burned. Some people have lost everything.
Firefighting efforts and reinforcements
More than 800 firefighters backed by 200 vehicles have been battling the blaze, with Canadairs and helicopters dropping water since dawn on Monday. Despite their efforts, the fire repeatedly reignited. Two national and six European aircraft are expected on Tuesday, providing water-dropping capacity equivalent to four Canadairs, according to the interior minister. Firefighters continued to douse hotspots and protect structures, while some residents helped by wetting their gardens and extinguishing small flare-ups.
I've been seeing fires for 30 years. This is the first time I've seen something so apocalyptic.
Witness accounts
Residents described scenes of panic and devastation. One woman said she drove through "a tunnel of smoke" while gas canisters exploded nearby. A couple who fled their home in Ille-sur-Têt returned to find their workshop destroyed. "The gendarmes called me to say it was burned, there was nothing left," said mason Camille Bousquet. In Vinça, Jean-Claude Lozano and his son Florian hurriedly packed their car, leaving the area to firefighters. "It's getting dangerously close. Normally it should be okay, but we'll give them a clear field," Jean-Claude said.
