A forest fire in a mountain area difficult to access in the territory of the commune of Die in Drôme continued to progress on Monday evening July 6, bringing the area covered to 1,000 hectares, according to the authorities.
The prefecture ordered the evacuation of residents of the municipalities of Montmaur-en-Diois and Barsac, which “are not directly threatened by the flames, but are located in the axis of the fire’s spread”, according to a situation update Monday evening. A dozen residents of a hamlet in Montmaur-en-Diois also left the area on their own initiative.
Flames out of control
The head of fire, “split in two” since Sunday, “regained strength this afternoon, due to still very unfavorable weather conditions (high heat, wind gusts of 50 km/h)”, underlines the prefecture. The 300 firefighters engaged “in extremely difficult conditions” on the ground of this fire declared on Friday will receive reinforcements on Monday evening from 75 firefighters from the south-east zone as well as a detachment of forestry firefighters from the Ardèche departmental council on Tuesday morning, according to the press release.
“The two heads of fire are currently out of control,” indicates the city of Die on its website, announcing for its part “200 additional firefighters as reinforcements on Tuesday.” “We are rather looking at several days before (the fire) is fixed,” had previously indicated Lieutenant-Colonel Ramon Navarro of the Departmental Fire and Rescue Service (SDIS) of Drôme. According to him, the department has not experienced such a major fire in the last 30 or 40 years.
An urgent call for volunteers
State services are calling “for everyone to be vigilant, to avoid the outbreak of new fires and overload” on firefighters. The department is placed on orange heatwave vigilance on Monday by Météo France. On the social network
“It is an intense disaster and one that puts us to very intense use, so we need to renew ourselves, and relieve personnel on a very regular basis,” underlines Lieutenant-Colonel Navarro. The Drôme departmental council, whose president Franck Soulignac is also president of SDIS 26, immediately set an example by releasing “all departmental agents engaged as volunteer firefighters”.
Furthermore, a vegetation fire in Haute-Loire, on the heights of Saint-Haon and Rauret in the south of the department on the border with Lozère, has covered 106 hectares since Sunday afternoon, according to the prefecture, mobilizing some 180 firefighters.
