In Gironde, near Landiras, the rain that fell overnight from Saturday to Sunday led to a lull and allowed the sub-prefect of Arcachon to declare the fire «fixed», in the face of an «extremely favorable» situation.
With cloudy skies, precipitation and «relatively low» temperatures around 25 degrees, firefighters could finally «breathe» Sunday in this region where the fire has devoured some 7,400 hectares of forest since Tuesday.
«It’s a great relief but be careful, fixed fire does not mean off, so we remain extremely vigilant. A very large device will remain on the ground for several more days,» said Arnaud Mendousse, spokesperson for Sdis 33.
The 8,000 evacuees from Gironde received permission to return to their homes on Sunday afternoon but were asked to exercise «caution» by the department’s fire director, Marc Vermeulen, who recalled that the forest was » not secure».
– «Stabilized» situation in Aveyron –
Between Lozère and Aveyron, around the Aveyron village of Mostuéjouls, the situation is now «stabilized», after a «virulent» recovery between Saturday and Sunday.
«The fire is not yet fixed, but the situation has stabilized. It continues to burn in a perimeter that is no longer changing. It is under control,» a spokesman for the fire department told AFP. Aveyron, adding that the device should be reduced Sunday evening.
Relief was also on Sunday in the Jura, where more than 1,000 hectares burned this week.
The fire which has ravaged some 700 hectares since Tuesday in the Vescles and Cernon sector was declared «fixed» on Sunday afternoon, according to the prefecture, in particular thanks to the arrival of rain and the dropping of products delaying by a Dash plane.
Same pattern not far from there in Montlainsia, where the fire which consumed 200 hectares of forest on Saturday no longer gained ground on Sunday.
In the Drôme, the fire which has ravaged 383 hectares of vegetation since August 5 was also fixed at the start of the afternoon on Sunday, the prefecture and the firefighters said.
«It fell ten millimeters of rain this (Sunday) morning, so it felt good, it helped us and now the fire is no longer progressing at all», said Colonel Philippe Cassignol, head of the reinforced Codis, explaining that A hundred firefighters will always be mobilized to secure the fire for «minimum» three to four days.
In Brittany, the fire which covered 630 hectares in the Brocéliande forest, was declared «fixed» on Sunday morning, as in Maine-et-Loire, where the fire destroyed 160 hectares in the Trélazé sector.
– Firefighters «on the verge of breaking» –
This improvement on the fire front is concomitant with the end of the heat wave, the third since this summer. No department is now on heatwave orange vigilance.
Orange vigilance for thunderstorms was lifted early at 6 p.m. by Météo-France in the seven departments concerned around the Lyon region.
Currently on vacation at Fort Brégançon (Var), the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron announced on Sunday that he would bring together all the actors from the departments concerned, once the fires are extinguished, in order to reflect on the «prevention and firefighting» in France.
An initiative that comes as firefighters, in high demand since the beginning of the summer, say they are «on the verge of breaking up».
In a column published on the Journal du Dimanche website, the firefighters’ organizations are calling for more financial means. Faced with «climate change (which) will be long-lasting and hit us all harder and harder», «the means must increase, it is a certainty», they write.