“We are at 38 interventions for crop fires this month of June. This is twice as much as the average…
“We are at 38 interventions for crop fires this month of June. This is twice as much as on the same date last year,” points out Lieutenant-Colonel David Vergnaud, technical advisor on forest fires for the Departmental Fire and Rescue Service (Sdis) of Charente, who recalls that of the 450 hectares burned in 2025, 250 have concerned with crop fires.
Already 38 interventions for crop fires this month of June
If agricultural activities play an important role in preventing fires, thanks to grazing or the maintenance of plots, they are sometimes also at the origin. A poorly adjusted cutter bar or electrical malfunction, and harvesters, mulchers or tractors can cause the spark that will destroy the product of a year’s work.
It is to better involve this essential link which is the farmer in the transmission of alerts that a partnership agreement between the prefecture of Charente, the Sdis 16 and the Chamber of Agriculture, has just been signed for five years.
“A first in the department,” declares the prefect Jérôme Harnois, who came this Wednesday to the land of Mickaël Viaud, cereal grower at La Couronne, to explain the network on which the system is based: to identify reference volunteer farmers who, in If a fire breaks out in their sector, they will be alerted by Sdis and the Chamber of Agriculture.
“To fight against the spread of crop fires, the most effective are mechanical means†.
“We are looking for at least one reference farmer in each municipality. Around fifty have already responded to our call,” says Laetitia Plumat, President of the Chamber. “The idea is to save time,” explains Vincent Colas, director of the Chamber. “Last week it worked pretty well. The representative relays the alert to his colleagues who are less than 20 minutes away and who, with a water barrel or a cultivator already attached to the tractor, can go to the scene of the fire.
“By watching out for the winds and not putting yourself in danger,” recalls David Vergnaud. “To fight against the spread of crop fires, the most effective are mechanical means. Turning the earth over creates a fuel rupture.”
A rapid intervention by farmers which would save how much time for emergency services and save how many hectares? “The question isn’t even there. If there were cultivators like this near all the plots to be harvested, we would hardly need to intervene,” clarifies the lieutenant-colonel.
In the meantime, Mickaël Viaud recalls the few preventive rules that farmers should follow. “The most important thing is to blow out the machines every morning, to get rid of the dust that could ignite†. It is also advisable to prioritize agricultural work during the cooler hours of the day. “Between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m., or between 5 p.m. and midnight, as we do at the moment. Finally, when the terrain allows it, you have to work with the wind in front, so that if a fire breaks out, it burns the land that has already been harvested.” Because a crop fire is also a considerable loss for the farmer.
A plan to replace tankers
“We are going to launch a major investment plan to renovate the Charente fleet of tank trucks,” announces Émilie Richaud, president of the board of directors of Sdis 16. “A truck like that costs between 350,000 and 500,000 euros,” she specifies. “The State will take its part,” assures the prefect Jérôme Harnois. Charente today has 35 medium forest fire tankers (CCF), with a capacity of 4,000 liters, and 16 super CCF, with a capacity of 10,000 to 13,000 liters. “Distributed throughout the territory,” specifies Lieutenant-Colonel David Vergnaud. “Because crop fires are concentrated rather to the north of Angoulême, and to the south, there are forest fires†.
