Firefighters battle blazes in southern France

Firefighters were battling several wildfires fanned by strong winds in southern France on Thursday, as the country grappled with parched conditions following Europe's recent heatwave.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said three blazes, two of which broke out on the western edge of the Mediterranean port city of Marseille, had scorched a combined area of 1,210 hectares (2,990 acres).

As Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu arrived on Thursday afternoon in Marseille to hold a new crisis meeting on the heatwave and the wildfires, a new blaze had just started near the city of Roquemaure in the Gard area, firefighters told Lecornu.

Lecornu, ⁠whose minority government faces a no-confidence vote in parliament on Monday that was put forward by Green Party lawmakers over its handling of the heatwave crisis, said on Thursday that 8,700 hectares had burned in France so far this season, including 1,200 on Wednesday alone, and that 2,000 firefighters had been mobilised.

The World Meteorological Organization last week warned that the record temperatures that baked Western Europe for over a week in late June would worsen the risk of wildfires, given the outlook for sustained high temperatures, very low humidity and dry vegetation.

The biggest wildfire was burning in the Aude administrative department area near the ⁠border with Spain, with some 900 hectares burnt. Local authorities said high winds were making it more difficult for the 800 firefighters to battle the fire.

Meanwhile, firefighters were tamping down a small blaze in Rognac near Marseille's airport and had brought another fire covering 260 hectares in Lancon-Provence under control. There were no casualties, local officials ⁠said.

France's weather office has warned that ⁠another spell of extreme heat could hit next week.


-Reuters