Aude: the A9 motorway blocked for 5 hours, the fire under control … – TF1

Aude: the A9 motorway blocked for 5 hours, the fire under control … – TF1

Thousands of motorists were stranded in their car on Wednesday after a fire guarrigues along the A9 motorway. Nearly 300 firefighters Aude, Pyrenees-Orientales and Hérault we had to fight the fire in the afternoon with significant air assets. According to police and firefighters, the fire broke out on a hilly area near Peyriac-de-Mer (Aude) in mid-day, and has grown rapidly, driven by a strong wind from the northwest with gusts to more than 100 km / h.

Magnanerie At 20h, over 400 hectares of scrubland were destroyed, according to firefighters Aude, who took eight hours to “stabilize the situation.” It was not until the nightfall the fire was extinguished, said an official of operations to 23 hours.

align=”justify”> In a statement released Wednesday, the Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve “praised the work of all mobilized in the Aude forces to face the first big disaster Summer “. The minister added in this release that it “wishes to lend its support to firefighters who sontmobilisés last few days in Corsica, in the south-west and the south of France.”

align=”justify”> The wind, which had fallen to 70km / h early in the evening, fell around 40km / h after nightfall, making it easier for rescue. These were reduced to 160 men about the size on site to monitor any times during the night. In early afternoon, the flames jumped over the highway, which was closed in both directions for five hours of 2:20 p.m. over 19h due to a large smoke prohibiting circulation. A force rotations water bombers, rescuers succeeded in late afternoon to loosen the grip of the flames, which helped to reopen the highway to traffic from 19h.

class=”S4030″ align=”justify”> No loophole, 17 km caps

align=”justify”> According to the operator Vinci Autoroutes, priority was given to the reversal of plugs stranded motorists on the highway for hours, and the lifting of access restrictions were gradually follow to 20h from Béziers to the north, from the south Leucate and Lézignan (A61) from Toulouse . Peaked caps to 17 km in the north-south direction and 13 km in north-south direction in mid-afternoon, the operator holding motorists away from the disaster, to ensure their safety. The prefecture of the Aude stated that the median of the highway was open to the north and south of the disaster site to allow motorists to turn around.

align=”justify”> A Narbonne , according to the prefecture, the town opened the exhibition to allow them to cool off and park in the parking lot. However, no escape was possible throughout the afternoon as the secondary network was also threatened by fire. No home has however been threatened by fire, according to police and firefighters. In addition to two hundred firefighters Aude and twenty men of civil security, relief mobilized throughout the afternoon forty firefighters stepped in Pyrenees-Orientales and much of the Hérault. They came with forty trucks fight against the fire to fight fire in a difficult access area. The number of Canadair water bombers mobilized increased gradually from four to six, which were added two aircraft Trackers and Dash spilling retardants.

align=”justify”> VIDEO. The story of the Special Envoy of TF1 Wednesday