More than 80 owners of woods and coppices in the town of Clermont-le-Fort discovered in their mail a letter from the town hall reminding them of their clearing obligations. It is specified that an inspection will be carried out by state services within two years and that if the prescribed work has not been carried out by this date they will be in violation and may be fined in accordance with article R163. -2 of the Forest Code. The work will then be carried out automatically at their expense after formal notice.
Originally, a letter from the prefect to the town halls asking to remind this obligation to the owners of plots in the areas shown on the “official” France map of clearing available on Geoportail. In total 360 plots in Clermont have been identified.
Looking more closely, most of the land is far from any habitation, some with habitation without nearby woods, others cultivated, and in the end only a few plots would actually be concerned.
The map clearly indicates that the entire Mediterranean rim, as well as the Landes, are concerned. The anomaly is that Clermont-le-Fort would be one of the rare communes of Haute-Garonne to be concerned by forest fires, and the extent of clearing. A comment indicates that this map gives an informative zoning.
The state attaches an explanatory brochure with a slogan “Claire protects her family and her home from forest fires. She clears brush around her home…” which makes people aware of the danger.
Forest fire is an omnipresent concern in the department of Haute-Garonne: in 2022, 500 hectares burned, including 75 ha of forests: 704 fires were recorded in the summer of 2022 and in particular in the municipalities of Escalquens, Preserville in July ; Martres-Tolosane, Villemur-sur-Tarn, Saint-Gaudens in August and Avignonet-Lauragais in September;
The owners are wondering about this obligation which concerns the woods and coppices close to the dwellings. Many are perplexed, torn between a civic behavior even though they are unable to clear everything, or to consider that this letter does not concern them.
They would prepare a file to make their point of view known to the prefect.
