A major wildfire occurred from 19 August 1949 to 25 August 1949 in the Landes forest in France. 50,000 hectares (500 km2) of forest land were burnt - and 82 people killed.[1] It was considered the most deadly forest fire in Europe[1] until the 2007 and 2018 wildfires in Greece, which killed 84 and 99 people, respectively. Since both fire events in Greece can be distinguished as a multiple fire event, the Landes fire still ranks as the deadliest wildfire in Europe since record-keeping began.[2] The municipalities of Cestas, Saucats, Marcheprime and Mios in the Gironde department were devastated by the forest fire. The very high dead toll from the fire shocked the country – and marked the starting point for the construction of the “Defending Forest against Wildfire” – “Défense de la forêt contre les incendies” System.[3]

Bibliography and further reading

  • Joan Deville, L'Incendie meurtrier dans la forêt des Landes en août 1949, Les Éd. des Pompiers de France, 15 mai 2009, 160 p. (ISBN 978-2916079202) (in French)

Sources

References

  1. 1 2 Christophe Neff (13 July 2009). "The Fatal Forest Fire – remembering the "1949 Mega fire" in the "Forêt des Landes" (South West France)". Blogs le Monde on LeMonde.fr. Archived from the original on 5 August 2019. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  2. ↑ "Pyrotragedies – a critical retrospective on the wildfire situation in Europe during July 2018". Blogs le Monde on LeMonde.fr. 7 August 2018. Archived from the original on 5 June 2019. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  3. ↑ "Pyrotragedies – a critical retrospective on the wildfire situation in Europe during July 2018". Blogs le Monde on LeMonde.fr. 7 August 2018. Archived from the original on 5 June 2019. Retrieved 9 August 2018.


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