Evacuated twice in a summer as France's fires burn

Christian Fostitschenko sat near his camp bed at an evacuation centre in Salles, southwestern France.

He lives in the little town of Saint-Magne, but he can't go home. It's too close to the fire zone.

This area, south of Bordeaux, was hit by a massive fire in July, and another blaze this week.

This is the second time this summer that Christian has been evacuated from his home - and he doesn't know when he can go back.

"I've been here since Monday night and could be here for 10 or 12 days," he told me.

"I'm fed up of it, mentally and physically," he said. "It's time to go home, but it just doesn't stop. It's a very serious fire - the first time that there's been such a big fire in our region."

He sighed sadly. "But people have been very generous. The fire crews are doing a magnificent job."

A huge fire-fighting operation is under way. More than 1,000 French firefighters have been joined by teams from Germany, Romania, Austria and Poland. In a field near the village of Hostens, fire engines from Dusseldorf and several other German regions, were lining to up to help, as a helicopter flew overhead.

Around the cordoned-off fire zone, south of Bordeaux, the big flames have been extinguished, but in some areas, almost everywhere you look, there are wisps of smoke from burning embers on the ground.

We watched as a French fire crew hosed down several small fires that were still smouldering in charred tree trunks, destroyed in an earlier blaze.

Stephanie Martin, from the French fire brigade told me that the fires this summer are "exceptional", with successive heatwaves, wind and no rain creating the perfect conditions for big fires.

She said the emergency teams are managing to stop the fire from spreading, but they remain on high alert, because lightning, wind, and storms, are forecast for the coming days.

"It is very stressful, but we are glad to have firefighters from other countries and professional teams from France."

On Friday night the flames reached the edge of the village of Louchats, threatening several houses. The next morning we met the mayor, Philippe Carreyre, as he supervised a truck spraying water into the woods.

"We've never known a summer like this," he said. "It's a catastrophe, an environmental catastrophe and also a climate catastrophe. The sun and wind need to be replaced by clouds and rain as quickly as possible."

Our local economy depends on forestry, he said. "We have pine forests, we use the wood for construction, for houses, for the paper industry, so a whole part of the economy is threatened."

In the main square in Louchats, Didier Legros parked his car close to a phalanx of fire engines. "I live close to the forest," he said. In July the flames reached within 300m (330 yards) of his house and they were forced to evacuate.

"The fire came very close. We've got horses," he said. "It was very stressful."

"If it continues this way, I think we will have to move away to a calmer area."

The little local shop in Louchats is still open, but these days mainly for the fire crews. It's hung with banners and drawings by children, thanking the emergency crews for saving their houses. Laura Blondeau, who works at the shop, is worried too.

"I was born here. I used to play in the forest," she said. "To see the forest dead like this is devastating. I'm frightened for the future."