Two new fires reported in the Eastern Pyrenees and Corsica – Le Figaro

While thousands of firemen are still mobilized in the Bouches-du-Rhône, a violent fire destroyed 800 hectares near Perpignan on Thursday, and is still not under control. In Corsica, a hectare went up in flames near Ajaccio.

● 850 hectares went up in smoke near Perpignan

in the wake of fires that ravaged more than 3,000 hectares in the Bouches-du-Rhône and the Béziers area, and mobilized 1,200 firefighters, two new fire starts were reported Thursday in the Eastern Pyrenees and Corsica. The first broke out around Perpignan in the morning and had destroyed some 850 hectares in the early evening. At present, the fire is still not under control. Fanned by a north wind at 70 km / h, which was only slightly weaken in the night, the fire was on the heights of the town of Rodès (600 inhabitants) at around 20 pm, said Philippe Vignes Pyrenees prefect -Orientales, at a press conference in Perpignan.

“The police came knocking on our door and told us to evacuate and turn off the gas”

early evening, the fire broke dangerously close to a small village where 60 people were evacuated, said the prefecture. They were welcomed in the commune village hall, further away from the fire, while another hundred were “homebound”. “The police came knocking on our door and told us to evacuate and turn off the gas,” testified Annie, a resident refuge in a renovated farmhouse that houses the tourist office of the municipality and the multipurpose room . “The smoke is so thick you can not see the village, one kilometer from here,” she added. “It was one of the first homes affected,” says Annie. “It’s always a little scared but we trust our firefighters,” she said.

The sinister party at 8 am on the roadside near the town of Montalba-le-Château in thirty kilometers west of Perpignan, is already the biggest fire of the year in the Pyrenees-Orientales. The flames, until stopped by the Tet river valley, which forms a natural barrier before the village of Rodes, finally jumped the obstacle in the early evening at Ille-sur-Tet, a nearby village, continued Colonel Salles-Mazou, head of fire department. Firefighters will therefore remain on area overnight, assured the prefect.

Nearly 500 firefighters have been mobilized with total expected reinforcements in the evening from neighboring regions including Spain, aided by three Canadair water bombers both ETFs and a jumbo Dash and a hundred vehicles. RN 116 was reopened shortly before 23 hours after being cut between Prades and Bouleternère but the provincial road 17 remained closed between the towns of Tarerach and Montalba and the railway line between Perpignan and Prades. accommodation centers set up to serve as shelters for people stranded, welcomed 400 castaways of the road, according to the prefecture.

If the specific circumstances of the fire remain clear, strong presumptions of malignancies around at least a fire starts in the town of Boule d’Amont, about 17 hours, according to France Bleu. Firefighters insight up a white van acting suspiciously leave. An investigation by the gendarmerie.

● One hectare devastated near Ajaccio

Later in the evening, around 18 pm, another fire broke behind the ring road from Ajaccio, on the border with the town of Alata, reports Corse Matin . Currently, a maximum hectare went up in flames. Fifty firefighters intervened at the scene and two Canadair conducted airdrops.

● 20 hectares went up in smoke in the Dordogne

In the Dordogne, a fire ravaged twenty hectares of woods in the night of Wednesday to Thursday around La Boissiere-d’Ans. One hundred firefighters were mobilized overnight to control this fire, reports France Bleu.