Steph Deschamps / September 13, 2022
A fire in progress since Monday afternoonhas covered 1,300 hectares of vegetation and forest in Saumos (Gironde), burning four houses and forcing the evacuation of about 500 people, according to the prefecture.
This new disaster, in a department already affected by major fires this summer (nearly 30,000 hectares burned in La Teste-de-Buch and Landiras), occurred in a context of high heat, with a monthly record recorded on Monday in Bordeaux (37.5 degrees), the first time this has happened in September since 1987, according to Météo-France
Since Monday evening, 540 people have been evacuated from the town of Saumos and nearby hamlets in the neighboring town of Sainte-Hélène, according to the prefecture.
More than 300 firefighters are present in Saumos, a village located between the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean, near the seaside resort of Lacanau, and the Bordeaux area. Reinforcements from several neighboring departments came to help their colleagues from Gironde.
Major airborne resources were also used before nightfall to fight the flames, with two Canadairs, two helicopters and two Dash planes.
In the Landes region, another smaller fire burned 45 hectares of forest in Herm, northwest of Dax, a town where a heat record for the month of September was also broken on Monday (39°C).