Agents of the National Forestry Office, accompanied by City agents, go door to door to enforce legal clearance obligations. The Journal de Millau followed one of these operations.
There have been numerous public meetings about it. The municipal system of Legal Clearance Obligations (OLD) concerns, since the prefectural decree of January 7, 2021, 91 municipalities in Aveyron, those considered to be the most exposed to the forest fire hazard. “And the Mostuéjouls fire unfortunately raised awareness”underlines Olivier Raynal, mediator agent for the City of Millau and OLD referent with Fabien Enguix and Patrice Galtier.
Since the beginning of autumn, they have been going door to door to warn individuals and sites intended for the reception of the public to arrange a passage with agents of the National Forestry Office (ONF). The latter were commissioned by the prefecture “for educational purposes in support of mayors who are supposed to provide these OLDs themselves”in conjunction with the Departmental Territorial Directorate.
“This is not part of our traditional activities”specifies François Artel, head of the territorial unit of the ONF. “For the moment, we are just raising awareness to explain the rules to people and the work to be done to complybounces back his partner, Gregory Philippe. Between 12 and 18 months after this first inspection, again at the request of State services, this can be transformed into a verbal inspection.”
The municipality can decide on a penalty of €100 maximum per day of delay. The total amount required is a maximum of €5,000.
The municipality can also impose an administrative fine of up to €30 per m² not cleared, in addition to risking a criminal fine of €1,500. If this non-compliance with the OLD allowed the spread of a fire which destroyed the property of others, a penalty of up to one year’s imprisonment and a fine of €15,000 may be imposed.
If this concerns your home, your insurer may apply an additional excess of a maximum amount of €5,000.
Strict rules
A cadastral map allows owners to know if they are affected by these OLDs. It delimits the zoning concerned by the OLD and can be consulted on the website of the City of Millau. It distinguishes between plots in urban areas subject to a total clearing obligation and natural or agricultural areas on the outskirts of the construction to be protected, where clearing is only necessary around 50 meters from this construction.
That day, the two agents from the ONF and the City carried out checks on the Causse Noir before going back down to two sites which welcome the public. At the Millau equestrian center, no one answers: you will have to come back. On the other hand, at the Saint-Estève estate – 8 hectares in all – the work promises to be significant. The two maintenance officers for the entire area and their managers are invited to discover the first measures. On the embankment which overlooks the chalets, it will be necessary to cut the grass to less than 40 cm and prune the trees according to very precise rules (to be found on the websites of the prefecture, the city and those of the forest communes of the Aveyron).
“For a site which welcomes the public, it is 50 m around the area where the structure is located “, specifies François Artel. “It’s a bit brutal to learn it like that but it’s the rulegrimaces manager Mathieu Bouat. Subcontracting to maintain these spaces would be expensive.”
And to propose solutions such as putting animals to pasture. During the visit, which lasts more than an hour, the agents record the work to be carried out live on a mobile phone. “A report which will be given to the DDT who will transmit it to the town hall”we specify. It will then be used by City agents, trained by those of the ONF, to repeat these inspection visits.
