Haute-Saône. Sixty firefighters practiced on a fictitious forest fire in Champagney.

"It's pitch black around you, it's snoring!" says Commander Mathieu Faure, executing a scenario for one of the sixty Haute-Saône firefighters deployed on Wednesday, May 7, to Champagney for a drill simulating a forest fire. In this fictitious scenario, emergency services, state services, law enforcement, and local stakeholders were transported to the heart of summer.

At 2:17 p.m., the first fire, caused by sparks during the braking of a train, was reported along the railway line. Then a second at the edge of the forest. And a third near the campsite. The flames were spreading at 1.2 kilometers per hour and would soon reach the crest of the forest overlooking the town.

The date and location of the exercise were not chosen at random. It is scheduled to take place on August 13, the day of the fire that ravaged nearly 40 hectares of Vosges forest in...

...to read more, join our community of subscribers

and access all of our articles on the website and mobile app

from €1 for the first month, with no long-term commitment

{'skus': ['lerswgpremium16']}