Huge fire in the Pyrénées-Orientales: thousands of people evacuated, “the city of Argelès is threatened” according to firefighters

This Monday, August 14 at the end of the day, a major fire broke out from a “vegetation fire” in the town of Saint-André, 30 minutes south of Perpignan in the Pyrénées-Orientales. Several hundred hectares of pine forest burned in this fire which affects several other municipalities: Palau del Vidre, Sorède and the very touristic Argelès-sur-Mer, causing in particular the evacuation of several campsites.

In the early evening, more than 500 firefighters were mobilized on the spot for this fire described as “quite important and quite virulent”. The firefighters were accompanied by eight Canadair planes, three Dash planes, three water bomber helicopters and two reconnaissance and coordination planes.

The town of Saint-André would also have been “encircled” by fire at the height of the fire. For the mayor, Samuel Moli, the situation “is catastrophic”. “We are facing a fire like we have never seen,” he said on France Bleu Roussillon. “Our town is hard hit, and there is a lot of damage”, even if “we still have to assess” this damage. “People must not try to cross the village,” also warned Samuel Moli, who himself had his house affected by the flames.

Thousands of people evacuated

Several homes have already had to be evacuated, since the fire is located in a suburban area. Towards Argelès-sur-Mer, two campsites were also evacuated. Around 4,000 holidaymakers thus had to find refuge in various points of the town. “The villages of Saint-André, Sorède, and the city of Argelès are threatened,” said the firefighters.

For Antoine Parra, mayor of Argelès, “it is a fire which is very difficult to control”, but which has not caused any casualties for the moment. “A campsite was totally engulfed in flames” and “people lost their homes”, he said on France Bleu Roussillon. According to him, the wind is less intense in the evening: “It still blows”, but “less than in the afternoon”. The number of evacuees could increase because 2,500 people were in only one of the five campsites evacuated in Argelès.

According to information from our colleagues at The Independent, there were more than 400 hectares gone up in smoke at the start of the evening, while sections of secondary road were closed to traffic by the authorities. Explosion noises were also heard by several witnesses quoted by various media.

The department of Pyrénées-Orientales had been placed, this Monday August 14 and Tuesday August 15, in yellow vigilance forest fires by Météo France.

“A fire of great violence is underway in the Pyrénées-Orientales. I call on the population and holidaymakers to be extremely vigilant”, for his part wrote the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, on X (ex Twitter).

At the end of the evening, the fire was “not yet fixed” according to the firefighters, but it was “better oriented than a few minutes and a few hours ago, since we can now see its orientation more clearly”, said the prefect of Pyrénées-Orientales, Rodrigue Furcy, on France Bleu Roussillon. The aerial intervention means had to stop at nightfall, he said.