A fire that started from a photovoltaic park in Lüe, in the Landes, quickly spread to the surrounding forest. The fire covered 190 hectares before being extinguished in the evening.
A fire started this Wednesday, September 16 afternoon in a photovoltaic park in Lüe, in the Landesquickly spread to the surrounding forest, covering 190 hectares. The fire, fanned by the wind, was extinguished around 9:45 p.m. after the deployment of massive land and air resources. Four firefighters were slightly injured.
Starting from a photovoltaic power plant in the municipality of Lüe, the fire spread to the neighboring forest until it reached 190 hectares, in the municipalities of Lüe and Labouheyre. © Romain Perrocheau / AFP
“The situation is very unfavorable given the presence of 63,000 volt high voltage lines, the A63 motorway and the nearby railway line.“, Colonel Romain Moutard, of the Departmental Fire and Rescue Service (Sdis) of Landes, told AFP. The wind favored a particularly rapid progression of the flames. “The fire is very close and progressing quickly, that worries me“, declared during the afternoon to the newspaper South West THE mayor of Labouheyre, Didier Pressard. Later, the elected official described a spread “at extraordinary speed“.
Up to 250 firefighters and 14 air assets mobilized
As the disaster progressed, the system was considerably strengthened. Up to 250 firefighters were mobilized on the ground, with the support of 14 air assets, including four Canadair and four Dash. These resources alone represented half of the air fleet available on Wednesday at the national level, according to the prefecture. A Chinook CH-47D water bomber helicopter – a device that can transport almost twice as much water as a Canadair –, on loan from Australia, also joined the system in the evening. “We have lacked air resources elsewhere but not here. When things go well, you have to say so“, commented Didier Pressard.
Rail traffic was also interrupted on a section of the line linking Bordeaux to Dax due to the proximity of the fire. The A63 motorway and several high-voltage lines also constituted vigilance points for emergency services.
L’fire also approached two industrial sites specializing in woodworking and classified Seveso. Of the “flames” reached these facilities, according to the mayor of Labouheyre. “That was my major worry.“, explained the elected official.
At the start of the evening, however, the situation evolved favorably. The fire, which was first announced “content“on a area of 150 hectareswas finally declared “fixed” around 9:45 p.m. The prefecture at the same time reassessed the area concerned at 190 hectares. The fire was therefore no longer progressing, but surveillance and border treatment operations had to continue.
A particularly exposed forest massif
This fire occurs in a context of high vulnerability of the Landes de Gascogne massifdried out by the succession of heat waves, and which covers more than one million hectares in Landes, Gironde and Lot-et-Garonne. The fire risk level was still classified orange on Tuesday in the Landes, before moving to yellow on Wednesday, corresponding to a level of risk considered medium.
The department had already been affected by several major fires this summer. The Biscarrosse fire, at the end of July, destroyed around 3,700 hectares, while that of Luglon, in mid-August, ravaged 1,700.
Nationally, 2026 is already a record year for burned areas over the last twenty years of satellite measurements. The European fire monitoring system (Effis) recorded nearly 100,000 hectares burned. At the end of August, France Assureurs also estimated the number of losses linked to summer firesat a cost close to 500 million euros.
© feudeforêts.fr
