Fires: Bouches-du-Rhône closes forest areas due to a “very severe” risk of fires breaking out

Anticipate to try to minimize the damage. Two days after a fire that covered more than 700 hectares and reached the northern districts of Marseille, all forest areas in Bouches-du-Rhône are closed this Thursday, July 10, in the face of a "very severe" risk of fire . The 25 forest areas in the department, including the very touristy Calanques National Park and the Alpilles, are affected, specifies the prefect of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, knowing that the wind is expected to pick up again in the afternoon.

The Bouches-du-Rhône, Vaucluse, Gard, Hérault and Pyrénées-Orientales departments are on "high alert" this Thursday by Météo-France for the risk of forest fires. This means that "weather conditions significantly increase the risk of the outbreak and spread of forest and vegetation fires compared to summer norms," ​​the meteorological agency specifies. A large southern band, stretching from the Alpes-Maritimes to Morbihan, is on yellow alert in this "forest weather."

Regarding Tuesday's fire, 120 firefighters remained mobilized in the Pennes-Mirabeau area, a town bordering Marseille to the north, where the fire started. They "worked all night to completely extinguish the remaining embers," emergency services said. On Thursday, the fire will continue to be doused and monitored for possible reactivations, given temperatures that are not expected to exceed 30°C.

In Marseille, 58 marine firefighters and 17 aerial vehicles were still deployed to "be ready to intervene at any slight signal of resumption." "The risk is diminishing even if the fire is not yet considered extinguished," the marine firefighters insist.

After spreading across 750 hectares and affecting the north of Marseille, destroying or damaging numerous homes, the violent fire that started on Tuesday from an accidental vehicle fire has been "contained" since Wednesday, according to the prefecture. It took nearly 30 hours for the more than 1,000 firefighters mobilized at the height of the operation to stop the spread of the flames, fanned by the long heatwave of the last few days and a violent mistral wind.

In Narbonne , the fire has also been contained since Wednesday, with the blaze having spread across 2,100 hectares of forest, according to the prefecture. In the Gard department, the commune of Montdardier is now out of danger, with firefighters bringing the blaze under control.

According to the final report, no casualties were reported and the total was revised downwards, since 430 hectares were affected, compared to the 500 initially announced.