Simon Fichet is releasing a book about his adventure

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The journalist Simon Fichetwho has his ties to Barfleur (Manche), has just published his first book “Tornado”, recounting his incredible adventure in the United States.

Before revealing the adventure, can you introduce yourself?

I am 42 years old, I am born in Caenmy father is from Cherbourg, and my family on my father’s side is from Barfleur. I still have cousins ​​in Cotentin, and my 5 and a half year old child has a group of friends here, so I come back very regularly to spend weekends and holidays. I live in Pré Saint-Gervais, in the Paris region.

What is your background in journalism?

I studied at CFJ Paris (Editor’s note: Journalist training center) and I chose the JRI specialization, journalist and image reporter. After my diploma in 2007, I worked mainly freelance for TF1, then for The Health Mag on France 5, still freelance. In 2012, I closely followed the Hollande-Sarkozy campaign to 13h15 on France 2. Thanks to this show, until 2018, I went almost everywhere, including around ten reports in the United States. Currently, I work for Beautiful escapes on France 5. I did, for example, Bali, I was in Bolivia in July for 15 days… I am a JRI director and I am going with an assistant.

How did you end up chasing tornadoes across the plains of deep America?

I had already worked with Alexandre Paré, a colleague from my class, in the United States during the riots in Ferguson (Missouri). It went well. He involved me in this adventure even though his fascination was far from my world and I hadn’t even seen the film. Twister (laughs) ! But the closer the trip got, the more I learned about tornado chasers, the more I saw their videos up close to the monsters… and the more I freaked out!

How was the stay organized?

Alexander had solda 30-minute topic on the show 13h15 we left in May 2015, accompanied by two meteorologists: Laetitia la Jurassienne – who had already gone hunting – and Matthieu from the Paris region. We had 12 days to produce this report. We chose the fortnight of the year that is statistically most favorable for the formation of tornadoes. We landed in Chicago and then drove towards the great plains of the dangerous Tornado Valley, where various air masses meet and twist, favoring the appearance of tornadoes.

How did the tracking down of this phenomenon go?

It’s Laetitia who decides where we should go. But during the first ten days – between desert landscapes, oil fields and industrial farms – the hunt yields nothing. Either it’s not forming, or we’re not in the right place. And the more failures there are, the more tension there is within the team… And the more risks we take: we go too close, we go into wooded areas, with rivers…

Did you have any scares?

Around the 10th^e One day, we found ourselves trapped in a big storm in North Texas. We are driving in two cars: Alex is in front filming our two French people, I am all alone in the 2^e car, filming what’s happening with Nature, the clouds… At one point, there are so many fleets that I no longer see them. We get lost… The phones no longer work and the walkie-talkies work very poorly. Now, I’m really freaking out. But we’re getting through it. We later learned that these storms left 35 dead…

Did you encounter a real big tornado?

The last of 12 days, after around 6,500 km by car! We are in Canadian, 2,300 inhabitants in the northeast of Texas, bordering Oklahoma. Night seems to have fallen eight hours early. Residents are hunkering down in their homes or tornado shelters. The gap between these people, anxious about losing everything, and us who hope to admire the phenomenon they fear, makes me uncomfortable. A first snorkel is formed… but does not touch the ground, failed. Big disappointment. We drive a few kilometers, we come across dozens of hunters… and we finally see her!

Under what conditions?

The winds exceed 200 km/h, the conditions are almost perfect: we are well placed, it is raining moderately, the vortex is imposing and above all stationary. The sight of a monstrous tornado like this is unique. With my eyes glued to the screen of my camera, I film her, out of the world, out of time, hypnotized by her pirouettes, her motionless mobility. After long minutes of spinning, a thin white whirlpool rushes towards us. In front of my door, a violent gust hits me and throws me to the ground! I get up, stunned, I jump in the car. My whole body is shaking and my brain is only thinking of one thing: running away. Laetitia explains to us that it’s a mini-vortex, that it can happen around big tornadoes, they are almost impossible to detect. I come to my senses and raise my camera again towards the vortex which is growing and growing again. Its monstrous mouth stretches for more than a kilometer and sucks up everything on the ground! Until the rotation weakens, the tube deflates, then the phenomenon disappears. I shot 20 minutes of footage in total.

What happened next?

We had two other smaller tornadoes, further away, more short-lived. On our way, we met Roger Hill, one of the great stars among hunters. A few days later, we met another specialist: Greg Johnson, the tornado hunter.We asked for an extension of five days to interview him and to shoot images at the National Weather Center in Oklahoma. We also met a family who had been victims of a tornado two years before, their house had been destroyed but all five of them had survived by following the recommendations to lie down in the bathtub. They installed it as a souvenir in the garden of their new house! The Special Division for tornadoes, hurricanes and thunderstorms was also very interesting for our report, broadcast on the show 13h15in June 2015.

How did you experience your return to France?

I suffered post-traumatic stress when I returned. I was always looking at the sky, the clouds. As I’ve moved around a lot, the only place where I really feel at home is Barfleur. I was there on vacation at the end of August 2015, and one day, there was a big stormy episode in the Cotentin. I’m stressed like never before. In the night, I hear the storm, there is lightning everywhere, and I see the water rising in the street… At 4 a.m., I go out in the dark, I no longer see the Gatteville lighthouse, I am convinced that a tornado is going to rush towards us. So much so that I wanted to evacuate the house…

How did this book come about?

In 2016, I told myself that I had to write about what I had experienced, before the memories faded. So I wrote in periods, in my notebook, and I had a lot of time to do it during Covid. In 2021, I said to myself: If I work hard on it, I’ll try to make it into a book.because this adventure might interest people. Everything is true at the heart of the 224 pages of this logbook. This is the making-of of the shooting, written in the first person and in the present tense, so that the reader follows the journey kilometer after kilometer. With everything I feel, my anxieties, my stress. I sent it to several publishing houses, and they redirected me to a publisher – Marchialy – specializing in this style of immersive literary works, which offer real-life experiences. In four days it was resolved! Since the release on August 21, I have had very good feedback from the media and booksellers. It appeals because it’s exotic, we don’t really know about this phenomenon, and there is the adventure side.

“Tornado – In pursuit of the monster of the American plains” (ed. Marchialy), by Simon Fichet, is sold at the price of €20.

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