Fires South Of Bordeaux Continue To Improve

As Europe experiences hot summers, it is no surprise that fires have popped in many regions. Two of the worst emerged right outside of Bordeaux, near the seaside community of the Bay of Arcachon. The fires began on July 12^th and have burned thousands of hectares of forest in Gironde.

According to local reporting from the prefect of the region of the Gironde, as of Monday the 25th the fires were under control outside of Cap Ferret. The fire in in La Teste-de-Buch had been extinguished and the Landiras the fire seemed to contained but not yet put out.

The same public relations agency said that no new, “No new permits could be granted today to allow evacuees to return to their homes [in Landiras].”

Smoke could be smelled in Paris and Bordeaux and the fires could be seen from more than 40 kilometers away. Since the beginning of the crisis, 36,750 people had been evacuated. The area is home to many beachside retreats for the Southern French, as well as camp grounds and hiking opportunities in La Teste-de-Buch, an enormous green lung of a park on the outskirts of Cap Ferret.

Close to 1,700 French firefighters were battling the flames at their apex, in an unfortunate pattern that keeps repeating itself throughout much of wine country in Europe and the West Coast of the United States.

What the Analysts Say

Not everyone thinks the smoke will affect the fall harvest in many regions of Bordeaux. According to Alexis Weill, a senior advisor at Rothschild & Co. based in Paris, the “harvest should start mid-August for some whites [not the late-harvest wines] and beginning of Sept for the reds.”

He also intimated that the fire in Landiras was intentionally set, as sadly often happen in many wine regions of the world. That includes the disastrous Almeda Fire in Southern Oregon in the summer of 2020 which destroyed homes across the Southern half of the state.

The second fire, Weill added, destroyed “a 2000-year-old forest,” that was beloved by local residents near Cap Ferret. He goes on to note that there have been, “No fires in Gironde for 30 years. We never thought it was possible….usually, it’s Spain, Portugal or the South of France, not the Southwest.”

Nea Berglund, an owner of Château Carsin in Rions, Bordeaux, located fairly far from the fires, notes that, “It’s heartbreaking and devastating to see friends leave behind their homes not knowing when you can get back.” In addition, Youmna Asseily, an owner of Château Biac in Langoiran, compared the smoke rising above her property to bad smog in London in the 1960s.

One can only hope that the fires dissipate as soon as possible.