Vine-pulling may have worsened devastating French wildfire

Over recent decades, vineyards have been retreating in Aude in northeast France, due to vine-pulling campaigns, often incentivized by subsidies or regulations to keep wine prices high.

The unwitting result is the removal of natural firebreaks from areas like the Corbières region – devastated by a massive wildfire in early August.

The day after the fire, which burned 160 square kilometers of vegetation and destroyed 36 homes around Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, Bastien Cabal, president of the cooperative winery Cellier des Demoiselles, received a thankful text message from a neighbor, which he proudly shows to anyone who wants to see it.

"Hi Baptiste," she wrote, "I'll never be able to thank you enough for having a vineyard behind our house - it helped save the house (and others) from the fire that was threatening it. Again, thank you… Without that vineyard, the neighborhood would've burned."

Other locals were equally happy. "We saw flames 10 meters high, it was incredible, but we felt protected by the vineyard. I worship the vine," says Pascal Pamart, a 71-year-old retiree and resident of the town of Tournissan.

A fire of this magnitude was "unimaginable not so long ago," says Fabien Vergnes, a 52-year-old winegrower in Tournissan. He says that all villages and isolated homes used to be "protected" by the vineyards surrounding them.

From around 100 square kilometers in 1980, the vineyard area in Aude has now dropped to 60 square kilometers.

'Inevitable'

During his visit on August 6, French Prime Minister François Bayrou noticed the barrier formed by the vines.

"What we saw, and it was very striking, is that everywhere there were vineyards, the fire was mostly stopped," he said. "And where there were no more vineyards -where thickets, scrubland, and garrigue had taken over - there was a worsening of the disaster."

Local elected officials and winegrowers are sounding the alarm over the consequences of vine-pulling.

"Climate change significantly increases the risk of wildfires. Well-maintained vineyards can play a crucial role as natural firebreaks," said Joël Rochart, an oenologist and expert with the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV).

As wine consumption falls, and to avoid overproduction while supporting wine prices, the state has subsidized a vine-pulling campaign that led to 5,000 hectares being removed in Aude – 2,500 of them in the Corbières.

"The vine-pulling policy is inevitable," Rochart admitted, "but we need to introduce territorial governance that takes into account the fire risk, to ensure regional planning includes this factor and is followed by operational action."

Water-saturated vine leaves slow fire spread, "like damp wood," he explains. If vineyards are pulled up, "you lose that barrier effect, and the former vineyard areas often turn into overgrown land," which makes fires easier to spread.

Double Impact

To address the issue, he cites a subsidized initiative in Banyuls, in the Pyrénées-Orientales, "where anti-fire vine belts were created. They form a shield" against flames, on plots overlooking the picturesque Mediterranean resort town.

"It's a problem that's going to get worse," the oenologist warns. "Rising temperatures mean more drought, and that makes vegetation more vulnerable to ignition and fire spread."

In the landscape around the 16 villages swept by the flames, green patches of vineyards contrast sharply with the scorched land strewn with charred trees.

For Jean-Paul Baylac, head of the Forest Fire Service in the Aude Fire Department (SDIS), "the impact of disappearing vineyards is twofold. First, the gaps between vineyard areas mean fires can spread from one forest to another, covering much larger areas.

"Secondly, on the edges of urban areas, where vineyards used to provide protection up until the 1980s, there used to be vineyard belts around nearly every town in the department."

Ludovic Roux, president of the Aude Chamber of Agriculture, is alarmed.

"Today, we have just 60,000 hectares left. We must preserve and save viticulture - and maybe even one day replant vineyards in strategic zones. The vine is vital."