Main road cut by forest fire
Gendarmes start inquiry after two blazes start in tinder-dry woodland in the Dordogne
POLICE have started an investigations after two separate forest fires destroyed more than 170 acres in neighbouring areas in the Dordogne.
The RN21 main road from Bergerac to Périgueux was cut for a while, with vegetation burning at the side of the road, and locals could only look on as the firefighters tried to stop the flames crossing towards a residential farming area.
Firefighters have now set up specific measures to defend outlying homes in the affected areas, to the north of Bergerac.
The fires came just as the department was put on alert for forest fires due to the lack of rain over the winter and the very dry and flammable undergrowth.
The first fire broke out on Saturday afternoon near the commune of Maurens. It destroyed 70 acres of forest and needed around 60 firefighters with the help of water-bomber aircraft.
Then, on Sunday afternoon, another larger fire was reported just around 15km away near Douville. It was on the hillside between Douville, Campsegret and Montagnac-la-Crempse.
More than 120 firefighters were needed, with reinforcements called in from the Lot-et-Garonne and Gironde. Two Tracker aircraft, from Bordeaux-Merignac airfield dropped fire-retardent powder on the fire - which was in difficult to access areas.
