The forest burning in southwestern France is man-made. Nearly 1 million hectares of it, planted by government decree in 1857.
Before that, the Landes was a swamp so flat and wet that local shepherds crossed it on stilts. Napoleon III signed a law forcing villages to drain the marshes and plant maritime pine, the fastest-growing conifer that could take root in sand. It became the largest man-made forest in Western Europe, grown in rows for resin and timber.
Which means it burns like a crop. Resinous pines, sandy soil that holds no moisture, dense uniform planting with few natural firebreaks. Old-growth forests have wet zones, mixed species, and gaps that slow flames. A plantation has fuel.
Thursday's fire started with a single van burning on the roadside at 3:45 pm. By sunrise it had covered 2,500 hectares and 23,000 people were evacuated. The same corner of France lost 30,000 hectares in the summer of 2022.
The horses in this video came from a stable of 95. Staff trailered out as many as they could, then opened the gates for the last ten because the fire was moving faster than horses load. That call is textbook, and it runs against every instinct. Horses in barn fires often die because they bolt back to their stalls, the one place their brain codes as safe. Loose on pavement, they can outrun the smoke. Most were recovered by nightfall.
France planted this forest to conquer a swamp. It worked for 169 years. Now every dry summer, the swamp's replacement burns faster than anything that grew there naturally ever could.
Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24)
🇫🇷 An equestrian center in Biscarrosse, southwestern France, released its horses as wildfire approached
Staff gave the animals a chance to survive and opened the gates because smoke, heat, and the speed of the flames made trailer evacuation impossible.
Video
— https://nitter.net/visegrad24/status/2081749047027663213#m