A stubble and standing crop fire broke out on Saturday June 13 in Les Maillets, the second major fire in Vienne in June 2026.
A stubble and standing crop fire ravaged 8 hectares at a place called Les Maillets in La Chapelle-Mouliière (Vienna), Saturday June 13, 2026. Thirty-two firefighters were engaged. This is the second large-scale crop fire in the department this month.
The essentials
- Déclenchement : fire reported around 5 p.m. on Saturday June 13, 2026 at a place called Les Maillets, commune of La Chapelle-Moulière (86).
- Surface brûlée : 7 ha déjà consumés à l’arrivée des secours ; surface finale estimée à 8 ha.
- Means committed: 32 firefighters from four centers (Châtellerault, Chauvigny, Poitiers Saint-Éloi, Bonneuil-Matours); light set around 5:20 p.m.
- Bill of materials : a dozen bales of straw and a pile of destroyed pneumatic materials; no casualties.
- Context : second major crop fire in Vienne in June, after 28 to 30 ha burned in Jouhet on June 11.
What happened at Les Mallets
Saturday June 13, 2026, around 5 p.m., a fire of stubble and standing crops – wheat and barley – broke out at a place called Les Maillets, in the town of La Chapelle-Mouliière. According to ICI.fr et The New Republicwhen the first machines arrived, around 7 hectares had already left. Progress is rapid. A plume of smoke is visible several kilometers around.
The fire was finally fixed around 5:20 p.m., around twenty minutes after the alert. The total surface covered is estimated at 8 hectares, according to the site Caractères. No injuries were reported.
Thirty-two firefighters from four centers
Publicité
Thirty-two firefighters were mobilized for the intervention, with machines coming from the centers of Châtellerault, Chauvigny, Poitiers Saint-Éloi and Bonneuil-Matours. The material toll remains limited: around ten bales of straw and a pile of pneumatic materials were destroyed. No homes are threatened. The cause of the fire has not been specified at this stage. For other similar interventions in the region, see also the two fires in Peyrat-de-Bellac which mobilized 36 firefighters that same month.
Context in Vienna
La Chapelle-Moulière is a rural commune of around 723 inhabitants (INSEE 2023), with a density of 42 hab/km². Its agricultural territory is exposed to the risk of crop fires during the harvest period.
This disaster is the second major crop fire in the department in the space of four days. On June 11, similar field fires affected other municipalities in the region. In Jouhet (86), between 28 and 30 hectares had burned, according to The New Republic. The repetition of the episodes in June illustrates the vulnerability of the cereal plots during the harvest period.
Since April 2026, the department has had a Departmental Plan for the Protection of Forests Against Fires (PDPFCI) 2026-2035, approved by prefectural decree of April 8, according to the Vienne prefecture. This plan aims to strengthen prevention across the entire territory, agricultural areas included. Similar crop fires were also reported in other departments this month.
Next step
The cause of the fire remains to be determined. The emergency services have not communicated about the opening of an investigation at this stage.
