Fire of rare intensity near Narbonne: the A9 motorway is being reopened

A fire of rare intensity remains active, this Tuesday, July 8, and has already covered more than 2,000 hectares of forest near Narbonne since Monday. The fire forced the inhabitants of a hamlet to leave their homes, which were eventually reached by the flames. The A9 motorway was also closed before the authorities announced its reopening. After a reconnaissance carried out this Tuesday morning on this key axis which links France to Spain, "we are gradually reopening the motorway. First in the north-south direction to relieve the congestion of trucks, then in the other direction. This should be effective around 10 a.m.," declared the prefect of Aude, Christian Pouget. Although the road is in the process of reopening, since mid-morning, the prefecture has recommended "avoiding travel as much as possible."

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Up to 1,070 firefighters battled the flames and five of them were "very slightly injured," said a statement released early Tuesday morning by the Aude prefecture, a department already affected by three forest fires in one week and placed on red fire alert. The fire "is still active ," state services warned, and traffic conditions "will remain very disrupted." As soon as daybreak, Dash and Canadair planes were due to resume their rotations. Five civilians were also "taken into care, including a child," and the flames damaged several houses and destroyed a workshop and a stable, the prefecture added. An investigation was opened by the Narbonne prosecutor's office to determine the causes of the fire, which remain unknown.

Around 6 a.m. this Tuesday, authorities maintained the lockdown measures applied to several neighborhoods in the south of Narbonne, the hamlet of Prat-de-Cest in the commune of Bages, and the commune of Peyriac-de-Mer. While the tramontane wind is expected to weaken slightly on Tuesday, the risk of fire remains very high due to "weather conditions […] quite similar" to those of Monday, Météo-France warned. The fire, which started Monday around 3 p.m. at a vineyard near the D613 departmental road in the Corbières massif, spread quickly, fanned by the tramontane wind with gusts blowing at 90 km/h, according to Météo-France. In addition to the wind, the vegetation dried out by a severe rainfall deficit reaching 69% in June, as well as the prolonged heatwave of recent days, form a formidable incendiary cocktail.

In Bages, a few kilometers south of Narbonne, Nathalie Bueno is devastated. The manager of the Maza stables said Monday evening that the fire destroyed her house and the community shelter housing 43 horses. "I lost everything. I'm in my car with my six dogs. We have horses that died in the flames, neighbors helped us save about thirty of them," the 60-year-old woman told AFP. In the town, which borders the A9, residents of the hamlet of Prat-de-Cest evacuated their homes for fear of the flames. "The hamlet was very badly affected, with several houses burning," said the mayor, Jean-Louis Rio.

Many motorists found themselves trapped in gigantic traffic jams, with some resorting to spending the night in their cars. Some 150 people were housed at the Narbonne exhibition center, while others were housed in halls or gymnasiums in Sigean, Ferrals-des-Corbières, and Portel-des-Corbières. The seaside resort of Port-la-Nouvelle, about twenty kilometers from Bages, was without power for two hours as high-voltage lines, threatened by the flames, were cut to facilitate the firefighters' efforts.

Updated at 9:55 a.m. with the announced reopening of the A9, then at 10:44 a.m. with the actual reopening.