Your holiday is gone, so are your belongings
It was July 2022: in the five campsites on the Dune du Pilat that burned down, "not a single mobile home, not a single business was spared". The managers of the affected campsites have already made the first contacts with the insurance companies. They promise to compensate the 6,000 customers affected.
Loss of personal belongings
Indeed, the majority of the residents of the campsites on the Dune du Pilat were unable to recover their belongings left on site, even if some, authorised by the authorities on Friday evening, were able to return for a few minutes to recover a minimum of belongings, this was not possible everywhere:
"We just had time to throw some things in the car and then we had to leave in a hurry, leaving behind the caravan, the tents, the bikes, our personal belongings... We thought we would be able to come back, but in the end we lost everything", says a German family.
The end of the holidays
For some, this means an aborted stay, either because they cannot return to their campsite or because they will not be able to join it due to a closure.
The holidays therefore need to be reorganised elsewhere... In this respect, reimbursement of benefits is possible, as explained below in the article.
The fires in Gironde will not be classified as a natural disaster
The Gironde fires of July 2022 will not be classified as a "natural disaster", the fires being of accidental origin in La Teste-de-Buch and criminal in Landiras.
If you are the victim of a disaster of this type, you should know that a classification as a "natural disaster" facilitates compensation, both for residents who have lost their homes, cars, etc. and for campers who have lost property.
What are the compensation and reimbursement options?
For the evacuated campers as well as for those who had planned their holidays for the following weeks in one of the campsites destroyed by the fire, it is often a case of cancelled holidays, even though the stay has already been paid for, as well as the services and transport. New holidays have to be arranged somewhere else.
Fortunately, there are possibilities for reimbursement. They depend on several criteria.
Who is eligible for compensation?
Holidaymakers have been forced to leave their campsite, hotel or holiday accommodation due to the advancing fire and the establishment has been evacuated. In this situation, holidaymakers will be automatically refunded.
Campers who were to start their stay after the fire and if the campsite is still closed during the period of their stay, will also be automatically refunded.
In the case of the fires in La Teste-de-Buch, the evacuation of campsites near the Dune du Pilat was decided by the State services, and the campsites were therefore obliged to comply. This is a case of force majeure.
In this situation, tourism professionals are generally well insured and campsite managers should be compensated without difficulty. This will allow them to compensate their customers who are affected by the cancellation of their holiday due to exceptional circumstances without any problems. In this case, their reservation will be reimbursed without justification.
But beware! This is only the case when the campsite has been closed because it is unsafe. As the accommodation service could not be provided, the tourism professional is obliged to reimburse it.
No refund without evacuation
The camper is bothered by ashes or smells or fears a new fire and decides to cancel or shorten his holiday on his own, while the campsite remains open: there is no major risk and the logic is not to reimburse them.
To see to what extent compensation is possible, you should first check the contract with the campsite: some cancellation conditions are more or less flexible, while others are very strict.
It is also possible to check with the insurance policies taken out by holidaymakers (supplementary insurance, credit card, civil security).