"France Heatware - fire in the mountains" Personal Page by vinc_bilb

Photos credit by default: www.trekearth.com/gallery/Europe/France/South/Rhone_Alpes/Grenoble

The Neron firing under the strom

Chartreuse firing - Grenoble city

Due to the France historical heatware in 2003, the storms / flashes started to create fires in the mountains, 5 kms from Grenoble

Storm on the Neron (Chartreuse) - Grenoble

August 2003 was a crazy period in France, for everybody, but specifically for fire mens.

European temperature - 2003 (Summer period)

The 2003 European heat wave was the hottest summers in Europe. The heat wave led to health crises in several countries and combined with drought to create a crop shortfall in Southern Europe. 35,000 people were killed in the heat wave... and 15,000 died in France from heat
France does not commonly have very hot summers (seven days with temperatures of more than 40°C (104 F) were recorded in several cities. Furthermore, while there are contingency plans for a variety of catastrophes and natural events, high heat had never been considered a major hazard and so such plans for heat waves did not exist at the time.
That shortcomings of the nation's health system could allow such a death toll was a matter of controversy in France. ... with a big panic (medical, funeral services, ...)

More on
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_European_heat_wave (english)