A fire destroyed 300 hectares of land in Ero. “Dozens of homes were evacuated”

As we have learned from the municipality and the prefecture, dozens of homes were evacuated on Sunday evening in Frontignan (Hérault department), while some communities are threatened by a fire that had already burned about 300 hectares of pine forest in the afternoon.

600 firefighters dispatched

Firefighters deployed a large number of aerial resources, including four Dash aircraft, two Beech aircraft, five Canadaair aircraft, a Dragon helicopter and a water bomber helicopter on X, to fight the fire, which started in the town of Gigean at around 3 p.m., the civil security department said in a release.

The county said the fire started 150 metres from the A9 motorway “but is spreading in the opposite direction, towards the Gardiole hills”, noting that some homes at the foot of the hill “have been evacuated and protected”.

The Hérault department added that a total of 600 firefighters were mobilized to the scene, including reinforcements from the Bouches-du-Rhône department (80 firefighters and 80 marines from Marseille).

Streets cut off, areas evacuated

Frontignan, a town of 24,000 residents southwest of Montpellier, launched its municipal protection plan at 6:05 p.m.

“The area in the northern region of Frontignan, close to Gardiol, has been evacuated and this continues given the risk of the fire spreading,” said the mayor’s chief of staff, noting that “dozens of houses” were under attention. The remaining residents were asked to remain confined.

The city’s streets were closed to traffic to allow firefighters and law enforcement officers to intervene, and a gymnasium was opened to accommodate all evacuated residents, the city added.

To speed up the firefighting, firefighters emptied Frontignan’s private swimming pool, the mayor’s chief of staff said, stressing that the wind complicated the situation and made the evolution of the fire unpredictable.