Four months have passed since the fires of August 5th, and in the Corbières region, efforts are multiplying to heal the wounds left by the flames. Conferences, meetings, and community consultations: all these initiatives demonstrate a collective will to rebuild and consider the future.
In the affected areas, nature is slowly reclaiming its rights. The first shoots appear, autumn has laid its warm colors on a landscape still marked by sadness, offering a striking contrast between scars and rebirth.
At the same time, safety work has begun to protect vulnerable areas. Teams from the Tourist Office and the job-training program are continuing their assessment of the hiking trails, which are essential to local life and the connection between residents, visitors, and the landscape.
Thus, beyond the catastrophe, a new dynamic is taking hold: that of a territory that is recovering, driven by solidarity and resilience.
Securing the fire zone
The Corbières fires of 2025 served as a stark reminder that the threat of forest fires is constant and intensifying in the context of climate change. It is in these moments that the DFCI reveals its full importance: a clear chain of responsibility, tested by the experience of flames.
Following the fire of August 5, 2025, the prefect of Aude issued an order authorizing lEmergency work to secure forest tracks in the affected areas. The State has entrusted the ONF, through its DFCI team, with carrying out this work in conjunction with the municipalities.
The ONF's DFCI (Forest Fire Prevention and Control) base, which brings together Mediterranean Forest Protection Agents (APFM), is located in Thézan des Corbières. It is coordinated by Stéphane Libes, responsible for DFCI for the Aude department, his teams work in conjunction with local authorities to prioritize interventions to secure the paths in the mountain ranges of the impacted area.
Did you know?
The State defines the broad guidelines of the national strategy for forest fire prevention. Within this framework, theNational Forestry Office ensures prevention missions, by mobilizing human and technical resources dedicated to serving the Forest Fire PreventionThe DFCI (Forest Fire Prevention and Control Service). Under the authority of the State, in conjunction with local authorities and the SDIS (Departmental Fire and Rescue Service), this system provides an operational framework for actions: surveillance patrols, hazard forecasting, monitoring of regulatory brush clearing obligations, expert assessments, and maintenance work on structures. On the ground, the Mediterranean Forest Protection Agents are on the front line: they are the vigilance in the heart of the mountains, they patrol during the summer, they intervene on emerging fires and they ensure the maintenance of the structures outside the summer season.