Camping Le Brasilia: The Day the Holiday Stopped

How a family campsite survived a devastating wildfire and reopened just 23 days later

One moment, more than a thousand holidaymakers were enjoying a summer afternoon in Canet-en-Roussillon. Minutes later, they were fleeing for safety as fire tore through Camping Le Brasilia. But this is not simply a story of destruction. It is a story of family, courage and solidarity, and of a community determined to bring the holiday back.

It was supposed to be another beautiful July afternoon at Le Brasilia.

Children were playing. Families were gathered around the pools. Holidaymakers were relaxing beneath the Mediterranean sun, enjoying a drink, an ice cream or simply the familiar rhythm of a summer holiday.

Then came the smoke.

Then the flames.

On Thursday 2 July 2026, a vegetation fire broke out near the Le Sainte-Marie campsite in Sainte-Marie-la-Mer. Driven by the tramontane, it spread rapidly, crossed the Têt and reached Le Brasilia and neighbouring areas in Canet-en-Roussillon.

Suddenly, a place built around sunshine and happy family holidays became somewhere every second mattered.

There was no time to wait.

No time to pack.

There was simply time to get out.

Minutes to Escape

The team at Le Brasilia moved into action.

The Opérask emergency alert system was activated and staff began directing holidaymakers towards safety as the fire approached.

Around 1,200 people were evacuated in less than 30 minutes.

More than a thousand people, including families with young children, older holidaymakers and people with limited mobility, suddenly had to leave their accommodation, often without fully understanding what was happening.

The campsite had prepared for the possibility of an evacuation. Staff had trained for it.

But training is one thing.

Standing in front of an advancing wildfire is another.

Some of those escaping had to cross the Têt. A human chain was formed through the water to help those who needed assistance.

Holidaymakers who had arrived as strangers were suddenly holding hands and supporting one another through the river.

Campers helped campers.

Staff helped families.

Firefighters recovered pets that had been left behind during the evacuation, bringing relief to owners separated from their animals in the chaos.

Then the terrifying urgency of escaping gave way to something almost as difficult.

Waiting.

Waiting to discover what had been lost.

A Family’s Life’s Work

The story of Le Brasilia began long before the fire.

In 1963, René and Simone Pla, local farmers who believed in the development of tourism in Languedoc-Roussillon, embarked on what the campsite now describes as the gamble of their lives.

Le Brasilia opened in June 1964, initially covering just 1.5 hectares beside the Mediterranean.

It was named after Brasília, the new capital of Brazil, which had itself appeared just a few years earlier. Both had been created in the middle of nowhere and in remarkably little time.

René and Simone steadily developed the campsite, combining hard work with a close, personal relationship with their customers. By the early 1970s, it had expanded to 15 hectares.

Their son Roger joined the family adventure during the 1970s and has run the campsite since 1978. While René continued developing the accommodation, Roger focused increasingly on marketing and the changing expectations of holidaymakers.

Under his leadership, Le Brasilia continued to evolve. Swimming pools, sports facilities, children’s activities and new accommodation were introduced, while the campsite gradually climbed from two stars to five.

But the Pla family built more than an impressive holiday destination.

They created a place to which people wanted to return.

That spirit continued through the team that grew around them.

In 1992, Roger recruited a trainee receptionist named Yann Marlic. Yann became deputy manager in 1996 and is now general manager of Le Brasilia.

This is the sort of place where people spend decades working alongside one another.

Where staff recognise returning holidaymakers.

Where children once arrived holding their parents’ hands and now return with children of their own holding theirs.

So when the fire tore through Le Brasilia, it was not simply a business that was damaged.

A piece of family history was destroyed.

Eighty-four rental units were lost and 150 pitches were made unusable.

The reception building, the beating heart of the campsite and home to years of records and memories, was destroyed. Roger Pla’s own bungalow was also lost.

For the first time since Le Brasilia opened in 1964, the campsite stood empty in July.

No campers.

No music.

No children playing.

Just the aftermath of the fire and the enormous question of what would happen next.

But Then Something Happened

People came together.

Other campsites in the region offered accommodation to displaced holidaymakers. Local businesses offered help. Customers sent thousands of messages.

Long-standing visitors contacted the team to ask how they were coping. Some returned simply because they wanted to see the people they had known for years. Others arrived carrying food and homemade cakes.

One story, recounted by Yann after the fire, captures the solidarity that surrounded Le Brasilia.

A Belgian holidaymaker had lost his belongings when the fire destroyed his mobile home. His toiletry bag had melted in the blaze, so he went to a small local supermarket to replace the essentials.

The shopkeeper realised he had been staying at Le Brasilia and had lost everything.

He was told not to pay.

It was a small act.

But in the aftermath of a disaster, small acts can mean everything.

Le Brasilia had spent decades building a community. The fire revealed just how much that community cared.

Inside the campsite, staff were facing the destruction of their own workplace and still turning up to help save it.

The Decision to Reopen

The reception had gone.

Accommodation had gone.

Entire areas of the campsite had been destroyed.

There was debris to clear, damaged zones to secure and thousands of customers to contact.

And yet, amid all that devastation, the decision was made.

Le Brasilia would reopen on 25 July.

That gave the team just 23 days to turn a devastated campsite back into somewhere families could come on holiday.

Behind the scenes, an enormous operation began.

Teams cleared the site and secured damaged areas. Essential facilities were restored and temporary arrangements put in place. Customers whose accommodation had been destroyed were contacted and supported.

For the staff, this was not simply a clean-up operation.

They were rebuilding a place where many of them had spent years, even decades, of their lives.

And their customers wanted to come back.

The Holidaymakers Who Wouldn’t Give Up

For some families, Le Brasilia is not simply somewhere they go on holiday.

It is part of their own family story.

They know the paths through the campsite.

They know where they like to sit.

They know the beach, the pools, the restaurants and the people.

They have watched their children grow up there, and they wanted to see the place survive.

That loyalty mattered.

On 25 July, just 23 days after the fire, Le Brasilia reopened, ready to welcome around 400 families.

The gates opened.

The pools reopened.

The restaurants came back to life.

Music could be heard again.

Children returned.

After weeks of silence, devastation and relentless work, the sounds of a summer holiday filled the campsite once more.

Le Brasilia was alive again.

The Holiday Is Back

When I arrived at Le Brasilia, I was not met by a place consumed by what had happened.

I was welcomed.

From the security staff at the entrance to the reception team still smiling behind their temporary desks, there was a warmth that immediately told me something important about this place.

Then I met Yann.

After everything he and the team had been through, he was still smiling too.

As we walked through the campsite, staff greeted one another and holidaymakers waved. People smiled and said hello as we passed.

A little wagon carrying children made its way around the campsite. They were smiling and waving, caught up in the excitement of their holiday.

Around the pool and bar, people were talking, laughing and enjoying drinks in the sunshine.

The holiday had not simply returned.

It was happening all around us.

There are still scars. The areas directly affected by the fire remain closed and rebuilding will continue beyond this season. Plans for a new reception are already being prepared.

But the overwhelming impression is not of somewhere waiting to recover.

It is of somewhere getting on with living.

Le Brasilia feels less like a campsite and more like a beautifully created village beside the sea.

You could quite happily live within its little world for the duration of your stay.

Go for a morning swim.

Stop for an apéro beside the pool.

Wander through a shopping area that could give many a marketplace a run for its money.

Pick up some cheese and wine from the beautiful boutique-style shops to enjoy on the way back to your accommodation.

Or, if cooking feels like far too much effort after a day in the sun, settle in for dinner at the campsite’s restaurant instead.

Paths wind through landscaped grounds filled with trees and flowers, connecting the accommodation, pools, shops, restaurants and beach.

It is lively without feeling chaotic.

Beautiful without feeling impersonal.

Large, yet somehow still welcoming.

And that atmosphere is not created by facilities alone.

It comes from the people.

More Than a Holiday

Perhaps the fire revealed something that had been there all along.

Le Brasilia has never really been just about its pools, restaurants, shops or direct access to the Mediterranean.

Those things help make it an exceptional holiday destination.

But they are not what gives it its heart.

That comes from the family who created it, the team who carried their values forward and the generations of holidaymakers who return year after year.

The fire destroyed part of the physical campsite.

It did not destroy that connection.

Walking through Le Brasilia today, you see staff who still smile.

You see holidaymakers who chose to come back.

You see children waving from the little wagon, families relaxing beside the pool and friends raising glasses in the sunshine.

You see the warmth and familiarity that René and Simone began creating more than 60 years ago, when Le Brasilia was still a small campsite on 1.5 hectares of land beside the sea.

Roger developed it without losing sight of what his parents had built.

Yann and the wider team continue to carry that spirit forward.

And the holidaymakers have become part of it too.

Le Brasilia is still a place where mornings begin with a swim and afternoons drift between the pools and the Mediterranean.

Where an apéro can turn into dinner, and dinner into an evening of music and conversation.

Where children make friends, parents switch off and returning families are welcomed back like old friends.

It is polished and impressive, but it has not lost its humanity.

That may be the greatest achievement of all.

The day the holiday stopped will always be part of Le Brasilia’s history.

But it will not define it.

What defines Le Brasilia is everything that came before the fire and everything that has happened since: decades of hard work, generations of memories and a community that refused to let a place it loved disappear.

Le Brasilia is a beautiful place filled with beautiful people.

And the holiday goes on.

Discover Le Brasilia

Ready to experience Le Brasilia for yourself?

Enjoy direct access to the Mediterranean, beautiful landscaped grounds, an incredible aquatic park and the warm, welcoming atmosphere that brings families back year after year.

Camping Le Brasilia
11 voie de la Crouste
66140 Canet-en-Roussillon

Telephone: +33 (0)4 68 80 23 82
Email: info@lebrasilia.fr
Website and bookings: www.brasilia.fr