Caudiès-de-Fenouillèdes: 100 firefighters still mobilized to extinguish the 110-hectare fire, now – The Independent

This Tuesday, August 16 in the morning, the work to secure the perimeter of the 110 hectares of forest destroyed by a fire on Monday was still in progress. Firefighters managed to bring the fire under control last night. They are now concentrating on treating the edges in order to prevent any recovery. In the eyes of the neophyte, the fire seems extinguished. But for firefighters, it is not. If they succeeded in bringing the fire under control this Monday evening August 15, they still have to complete the work to secure the perimeter in order to ensure that the fire cannot rise again from its ashes. This is why 290 sappers spent the night there. This Tuesday morning, they were still a hundred to be engaged in the treatment operation of the 5 km of edges of the fire. “We are going to have a change of wind. We must remain vigilant”, we estimate on the side of the Departmental Fire and Rescue Service (Sdis66), which coordinates the maneuvers. For the record, the fire which ravaged 110 hectares of forest between Caudiès-de-Fenouillèdes and Prugnanes broke out on Monday, a little before 3 am. More than 400 firefighters fought for 12 hours to stop its progress.