“It won’t grow back with a magic wand”: A year after the fire, Corbières residents fight to save their land

A year ago, a massive wildfire consumed 11,000 hectares of land in the Corbières region of southern France, leaving a fragile agricultural territory struggling to recover. Residents are now looking to a new recovery plan presented by the prefecture for solutions.

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It won't grow back with a magic wand.

Xavier de Volontat, the 74-year-old mayor of Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, vividly recalls the terrifying speed of the fire on August 5, 2025. He remembers thinking the fire would not reach his town, only to see a "huge mushroom" of smoke engulf the forest and race towards Saint-Laurent within minutes. "There wasn't a wind to de-horn oxen, just a small tramontane. But in five minutes, from my home, I saw a huge mushroom cross the forest and head straight for Saint-Laurent," he recounted, precisely tracing the fire's path on a map.

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At 4 p.m. I thought the fire would never reach here. And at 5, I said 'we are dead'.

The immediate aftermath involved opening shelters and organizing evacuations, a chaotic process complicated by residents reluctant to leave their homes. Emmanuelle Bernier, a shepherdess, had to move her sheep away from her destroyed sheepfold in Fontjoncouse but kept donkeys on the site. The region, already weakened, now faces the daunting task of rebuilding its agricultural heartland.

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There wasn't a wind to de-horn oxen, just a small tramontane. But in five minutes, from my home, I saw a huge mushroom cross the forest and head straight for Saint-Laurent.