00:00We can now bring in Colonel Frédéric Arrault, a spokesperson for the French Civil Security
00:05and Crisis Management Agency.
00:06Thank you so much for coming in and speaking to us here on the programme today.
00:10What is the situation on the ground right now?
00:12The situation is that we have now fired since three days.
00:18Firefighters and military units are fighting against this fire.
00:22It's one of the major ones we have since the last decades, mobilizing a lot of means and
00:28firefighters.
00:29So why is it so difficult to contain this particular fire right now?
00:34What are the conditions the firefighters are dealing with?
00:37Since the last month, we have faced complicated seasons, summer, very hot with a period of
00:45canicule and then the vegetation is dry.
00:48So we were fearing some wind the last days and then this wind has pushed the fire, as we
00:56have seen on the last three days in this area.
00:59So the French environment minister says the fire is advancing but at a slower pace.
01:06Is that a good sign?
01:07Right now it is.
01:08And the last hours, the wind has decreased.
01:12So we are using this period to do some tactics to try to fight a fire using water, using counter-fire and
01:22to take advantage of this situation before the wind could increase in the coming days.
01:27So I saw that 11 firefighters were reportedly injured.
01:30Are they okay?
01:31What happened to them?
01:32Yes, a few minor things due to the fire, to the condition to work with the closest in a very hot area and we have one truck who have faced a crash, an accident and the four firefighters inside have been hurt in the crash.
01:52So how many people have been evacuated from the area?
01:55I don't have the exact figure at this point.
01:59The evacuation is really the last resort.
02:01When we know that the blaze will come to the house and it's always tricky to do this because pushing the people outside could be risky for them.
02:11So we really do it in the last resort and we prefer people to stay inside the house.
02:16They are protected inside if they take care of the hair and the surrounding.
02:22Now, I spoke to a professor yesterday who said that these kinds of events, fires, heavy flooding is going to happen more and more frequently.
02:32What sort of prevention measures does the department take to prevent from fires even happening in the first place?
02:40We do many and we have to because we see that since the last 10, 15 years, this fire become bigger and more complicated to manage.
02:51So we have to do a lot of things.
02:53First, to do more sensibilization, to explain to people what is the good behavior in order not to trigger this kind of fire.
03:03Like what?
03:04Like cigarettes, like mortals, like barbecue and things like this.
03:09And then since three years now, we have the forecast, the weather forecast of the forest.
03:14Then to prevent when some places like forest are in a very critical situation and to avoid people to get in this forest.
03:25So it's a lot to do to do this prevention process in a moment.
03:29A couple of years ago, I remember in the south of France, there was a project to use goats to eat the dry vegetation.
03:37Is that something that that is happening?
03:40If it is successful, why is it not happening at a larger scale?
03:43Because it's a cheap method, isn't it, to fix the dry vegetation problem?
03:47It is.
03:48It is for some places that are let without agriculture, but the goats won't eat the feet of the sheet of the forest.
03:59So we have to do this kind of initiative, which are very good.
04:04But not only we have to manage better the forest in order to to do some prevent, preventing places to break the strength of this fire.
04:14So are you confident?
04:16Do you have an estimation of when firefighters on the ground right now in the region of Ord will be able to contain this fire?
04:23Do they have any estimation in like the next coming hours, coming day?
04:28So in the coming hour, we expect to stop the progression of the fire,
04:32taking advantage of the wind with decreasing.
04:36So in the coming days, we'll try to really do the circle of the fire and to make it not going larger.
04:44And then it will take weeks, probably weeks to to finish the extension, then to put the water everywhere and to avoid having any hot point that could start a new fire again.
04:58And we still don't know what caused this place today.
05:00Not at this point, the gendarmerie is in charge of inquiring the origin of the fire.
05:05Colonel Arrow, thank you so much for coming in and speaking with us.
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