Vintners and bakers risk lives to fight French wildfires

Driving through the forest of Cap Ferret, a once-idyllic holiday retreatfor millionaires now feels ghoulish.

Charred pine trunks and saplings jut out of the ash-stained soil that lines the road. Smoke rolls across the furrowed earth, stirring up glowing embers that crackle to life and burst into flames.

Fire crews gather around maps laid out on vehicle bonnets before dispersing in groups of three, driving off-road into the forest to quell the smouldering embers. But for every fire they snuff out, a new one seems to replace it.

“The next one’s to the left – quick, let’s move.” Two firefighters spring into action: one heaves a giant hose, while the other hurries to the site of the next flare-up.

The Gironde fire and rescue department works systematically, weaving through the blackened forest 40 miles west of Bordeaux, which last week became the epicentre of the worst wildfires in modern French history.

The infernos that raged over the weekend, with flames shooting 30 metres into the air, have largely been contained for now.

This is thanks to a huge deployment of more than 2,500 firefighters from across France, combined with cooler temperatures and rainfall in Cap Ferret on Sunday night.

The pause has given fire crews – largely made up of volunteers, some of whom normally work as vintners and bakers – a much-needed moment to rest and see their families after days of deployment, often sleeping in military-style cots or in their fire engines.

“It’s not just the fire crews,” said Evan Quentin, 55, a firefighter from Cap Ferret. “There’s a whole wave of solidarity, a whole chain that’s formed naturally – farmers, wine-growers, people who work in bread‑making – who come as volunteers, for example with the Red Cross, all the people working behind the scenes.

“The riot police from the beaches who come to help us, people who’ve said, ‘I’m coming’. Even out in the field, there are people who bring us their water tankers. That means we don’t have to drive kilometres to get water.

“It’s vital. It’s this spirit that keeps us going.”

However, with another heatwave thought to be imminent, potentially sending temperatures soaring to 40C, fire chiefs fear they are not out of the woods yet.

“It’s a bit like playing whack-a-mole,” admitted Capt Mathieu Jomain, a brigade captain in the Gironde fire and rescue service. “There is sometimes a feeling of losing the battle.”

A further 4,000 people were evacuated from the beach town of Lacanau on Tuesday, adding to the more than 36,000 people who have been forced to flee their homes across France and Spain as wildfires tear through southern Europe.

Manuel Martinez, the mayor of Marcheprime, in the fire-ravaged Gironde region, described being “at war with an enemy” as he called for more firefighting resources.

Meanwhile, Lt Col Eric Brocardi, a spokesman for the National Federation of Firefighters of France, called the race to contain the flames as a “David-against-Goliath” contest.

On Monday afternoon, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, met emergency services in the region and said the situation was “more difficult than at any time since the Second World War”.

Emergency workers also extended a 16-mile firebreak from 160ft to 230ft across to help slow down any new fires and stop them from jumping between trees, Wilfried Schneider, a fire brigade communications officer, explained.

It is testament to a monumental community effort to contain the fires, with farmers using agricultural equipment to uproot trees to enlarge the space.

Of the thousands of firefighters mobilised from across the country, around 80 per cent are volunteers, said Mr Jomain. Many are working through the night and spending time away from their families to try to bring the situation under control.

“I’ve been here for a week sleeping in my car,” said one firefighter from Langon, a town 75 miles east of Lège-Cap-Ferret.

The man, who did not want to be named, is married with two daughters. He said: “I send them messages from time to time. I just tell them things are OK, and that’s it.

“I tell them not to worry, that everything’s fine. I try to reassure them. That’s normal. If we don’t reassure them now, we’ll never manage.”

But, of course, these firefighters are facing a life or death situation. Cpl Laurent Manson, a 38-year-old volunteer firefighter in the south-eastern department of Bouches-du-Rhône, was killed in an accident involving the water tanker he had been driving on Monday.

He was the fourth firefighter to die since wildfires broke out in the Gironde and Landes regions last week.

“I’ve seen things I’ve never seen before in recent days. Catastrophic situations. It’s like a war,” said the Langon firefighter, describing “monstrous” flames rising up to 30 metres into the air.

“It was very, very intense right from the start, especially the day [on Thursday evening] when all the houses burned in Porges. The fire was explosive, and we tried to save every house we could, but they went up like matchsticks. I think we managed to save four or five, but we saw so many burn right next to them.”

Asked whether he feared for his well-being, he said: “When you’re no longer scared, that’s when you’re in danger. Yes, we are afraid, but that’s what keeps us in check.”

Mr Quentin knows all too well the dangers that come with the job. Two colleagues from his fire station, corporals Anthony Berthome and Wilfried Schmitter, both 34, were killed last week when their fire engine was engulfed in flames near Bordeaux-Mérignac airport.

“They were two of my best friends,” said the father of two, gazing blankly into the distance. “I’m afraid of losing more friends. That’s why I’m here.

“Right now, the fact that I’m here and that I’m busy, that’s OK. It keeps me from crying at night. Later, it will be hard.”

[Source: Daily Telegraph]