• This weekend, the drought already well established and the strong winds of the storm Larissa formed an explosive cocktail in the Alpes-Maritimes, where eight fires mobilized more than 300 firefighters.
  • In total, nearly 55 hectares of vegetation went up in smoke, especially in the hinterland of Grasse, without causing injuries or threatening housing.
  • The authorities call for "the strongest attention" while the water situation will remain worrying in the department.

The situation seems particularly worrying for the month of March. This weekend, the drought already well established and the strong winds of the storm Larissa formed an explosive cocktail in the Alpes-Maritimes. More than 300 firefighters and significant resources, including air, with reinforcements from the Var and Marseille, had to be mobilized to overcome eight forest fires that broke out between Friday and Saturday, according to the Departmental Fire and Rescue Service.

In total, nearly 55 hectares of vegetation went up in smoke, especially in the hinterland of Grasse, without causing injuries or threatening housing. But the authorities call for "the utmost attention" while the water situation will remain worrying.


The two largest fires, fanned by wind gusts of more than 130 km / h, affected Saint-Vallier-de-Thiey (20 hectares), near the city of perfumes, and Briançonnet (30 hectares), on the border with the department of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, where about thirty firefighters are still mobilized this Monday morning. On site, "hot spots still remain" and "the work of treatment of the edges must continue during the day," said the Sdis 06.

The department on drought "alert"

The fires, some of which were caused by electric arcs on medium or high voltage lines, also affected the municipalities of Spéracèdes, where 3.22 hectares burned, Le Mas (7,000 m2), Coaraze (5,000 m2), Lantosque (2,500 m2), Puget-Rostang (1,000 m2) and Bouyon (500 m2), according to reports provided by Sdis 06. In the latter village, northwest of Nice, a sheepfold had to be evacuated.

"We are only in March and the drought situation, combined with high temperatures and strong winds, already commits to the greatest vigilance against the start of fires," responded the president of the Alpes-Maritimes department, president of Sdis 06. And Charles-Ange Ginésy to "call all the inhabitants to civility and the strongest attention to this situation".

On Friday, the prefecture of Alpes-Maritimes announced that the department would be placed on drought "alert" while the level of some rivers is alarming. An order should specify in the coming hours the restrictions on drinking water consumption that will be put in place. Watering between 8 a.m. and 20 p.m., as well as filling swimming pools will be prohibited.

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