On Tuesday afternoon, a fire broke out at the sorting center in Villeneuve Loubet.
No less than 100 firefighters, assisted by several helicopters, fought all night to extinguish the flames.
Yesterday morning, the mayor called a press conference to update on what had happened.
For a month now, the mayor of Villeneuve Loubet has been worried. The drought is severe, and temperatures keep rising.
While the Alpes Maritimes department is under an orange fire alert, he sees no preventative measures arriving for his municipality. However, it’s not for lack of trying with the SDIS06 commander, Christian Côme.
His only response is “We are taking care of it”, which doesn’t really satisfy him.
In Villeneuve-Loubet, the major risk is the Grasse road. Along this route are several leisure centers (Bois des Lutins, the Labyrinth, etc.), the notorious Sourire campsite, and Urban Legend, which hosts young people on-site during the summer.
He then decided to take action… He offered a tour to the SDIS commander in the Vanade area. The mayor, Lionnel Luca, wonders. What to do if there is a fire on both sides of the Grasse road? At this stage of contemplation, he doesn’t have an answer. He simply hopes it doesn’t happen.
To prevent such a situation, he spoke with the road management as well as Marie Benassayag, the department’s vice president. He wants to raise their awareness of the need to create a lane that could normally be used by pedestrians, cycles, but in case of a fire would turn into an emergency lane.
During rush hour, he confides that the traffic on the Grasse road is impressive. He is concerned about the risk of an exceptional flare-up.
The mayor took advantage of this meeting to raise the issue of the actual condition of the Veolia site. It had already experienced a violent fire in 2005. He does not want that to happen again. He is scared by the photos handed to him by Serge Rover, one of his municipal advisors. The site seems poorly maintained and inadequately weeded.
Lionnel Luca thus sent a letter to Veolia to bring the installations into compliance just before July 14. To date, he hasn’t received a response.
On Monday morning, reading the Nice Matin, he learns that Veolia has followed his instructions. He is surprised to learn this through the press. He regrets not having access to the Veolia site. It is a private site with private operations under State control (DREALE).
Around 4 PM yesterday, a fire broke out on this site. Fortunately, the firefighters intervened very quickly. They confined the risk away from the surrounding hills. The problem is that the fire caught in a sorting center. “Yes, but sorting what? Only God knows,” says the mayor.
Yesterday morning, the mayor met with the site operations manager to learn more. Chemical products might have been burned. “Yes, but which ones he asks? That, no one knows except the Force06 commander, Christian Côme, present as soon as the fire was declared.”
Met this morning, Christian Côme reassures: “No harmful products for the Villeneuvois and the Cagnois have been released into the air.”
He adds that there is no danger of any kind. All tests performed are negative regarding potential pollution.
