“Efforts are currently focused on the protection of several sensitive points located in the axis of the fire, including a campsite in the town of Saint-Génis and a housing complex that includes several homes,” the fire department said in a press release. The “municipal protection plan was activated” in the two municipalities, prompting the evacuation of residents and tourists, who were directed to the municipal halls.
RD 618 is closed until further notice.
About ten hectares in an hour
The blaze that broke out at 5.16pm “is being fueled by southerly wind gusts reaching 60km/h”, and would have burned around ten hectares in the space of an hour, according to firefighters. 110 hectares were covered.
At the end of the day, the fire, still burning, had mobilized a workforce of 340 firefighters, seven Canadairs, two helicopters and two bombers. The drought-stricken department was placed on red alert for the risk of forest fires by Météo-France on Friday for Saturday, a maximum level reached for the first time in France since the start of the summer.