«What happiness. What’s the rain been like, ten years since we’ve seen it?», quips, at lunchtime, a volunteer from the security PC of Hostens (Gironde), before being reprimanded to fill cups of coffee faster.
In this campsite transformed into a military camp, with 1,500 daily covers served to as many firefighters from all over France and Europe to fight an «outstanding» fire, smiles were on many faces on Sunday.
Since the first drops on Saturday around 11:00 p.m., it has fallen «between 10 and 30 mm» in the sector, according to Arnaud Mendousse, spokesperson for the Gironde firefighters, on the front line against this resumption of fire which has ravaged 7,400 hectares of pines since tuesday.
According to firefighters, the last rainfall in the area dates back to the end of June. New «rare showers» are forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday, coupled with falling temperatures, according to Météo-France.
«These conditions have shown that the situation was extremely favorable and already allows us to announce that the fire is now fixed», announced in the afternoon, the sub-prefect of Arcachon, Ronan Leaustic.
– «Great relief» –
For Dorothée Falières, a volunteer from the PC d’Hostens who lives in an isolated house in the forest, the rain, «it’s a joy, and it also avoids malicious fires».
«As soon as there are wet soils, the arsonist is no longer there», adds, at his side, Jean-Louis Réglat, retired and «small logger».
But for the firefighters and the authorities, if stopping the progression of the fire is a «great relief, that «does not mean that the fire is under control», tempers Mr. Mendousse, planning «a large device on the ground for several more days «.
In the charred pine forests on Sunday, the firefighters, like Eva Garon, 24, were working to extinguish the smokers, these fumes emanating from the basement, where the temperature is still around 100°C from a depth of one meter.
«I don’t even count them anymore,» said Ms. Garon breathlessly, firing from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. a 40-meter lance connected to a truck carrying 6,000 liters of water.
A grueling but «indispensable» task to avoid new outbreaks of fire.
The day before, before the rains, dozens of German and Austrian firefighters, members of a contingent of nearly 400 European firefighters called in as reinforcements, chopped up the stumps that were still burning with axes and uprooted the ferns and plants with pickaxes. spared neighboring plots, to prevent a future fire from spreading there.
Because to completely extinguish the fire, «the rain would have to fall for several days and weeks», estimates the commander Matthieu Jomain, of the departmental fire and rescue services of Gironde.
But according to all the firefighters on site, such life-saving rains will only arrive «in the fall».