“Mega fire”: all you need to know about this new threat – CNEWS

The north of the Gard department has been hit since Thursday by a “mega fire”. A phenomenon that should unfortunately multiply throughout the world due to global warming. The Gard on high alert. The north of the department is affected by a very large fire which had affected 500 hectares around 8 p.m. Thursday. “This fire is, how to say, a “mega fire”. This is an extremely unfavorable and very critical situation in the area, because the wind is not calming down and it is not going to calm down tomorrow!, feared this fire official. It will continue tonight and several days, ”explained to AFP the commander Tanguy Sagères, in charge of communication of the firefighters of Gard. Which countries are affected by “mega fires”? “Mega fires” have multiplied in the four corners of the world in recent years, particularly in Australia and the United States (California in particular), where the areas burned have increased by 1,200% over the past three to four decades. In Russia, forests are not spared either. Siberia would thus have this year more than 16 million hectares destroyed by the flames, with temperatures close to 50° C. Heat never recorded in this region of the world. In addition, Turkey or Algeria have had to deal with terrifying fires recently without necessarily being able to control them quickly. In Europe, Italy and Greece have been hit hard this summer. While the episode of the major fire which ravaged 7,100 hectares of forest in the Var in mid-August 2021 in France was also singled out as being “abnormally” strong by fire fighters. The causes of a “mega fire” Point now undeniable for experts, climate change would be responsible for the increase in fires in the world. “What we see in our research is that global warming has three consequences, the first is a spatial extension of the risk zone, with contamination of regions that were historically immune”, against fires, underlined Renaud Barbero climatologist researcher at the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (Inrae) Projections based on analyzes by UN climate experts (IPCC) show “that the risk zone will spread towards the north of Europe, and then at altitude”, for his part noted Jean-Luc Dupuy who studies the spread of fires and their evolution in Europe at the Inrae research laboratory in Avignon. Today, the area burned each year in Europe is on average 400,000 to 500,000 hectares, mainly in the Mediterranean countries (Spain, Greece, Italy, France, etc.). In France, “the activity (of the fires) will intensify in the areas where it is already strong, in the South-East and also extend to the mountainous margins of this region of the South”, where the temperatures and the drought will increase, explains Jean-Luc Dupuy who studies the spread of fires and their evolution in Europe at the Inrae research laboratory in Avignon. A danger, which according to its projections, will also increase in the northern half, particularly in the Pays de la Loire and the Center where a significant increase in fires is expected in the future.