Wildfires scorch southern France as heat and drought fuel blazes

PARIS — Wildfires raged in the south of France on Thursday after weeks of dry weather and record temperatures across the country, devastating large swaths of land.

The biggest fire spread in the Aude and Herault regions, where up to 800 firefighters and 150 vehicles were deployed to tackle the flames that ran over 900 hectares (2,200 acres), local authorities said. Further fires broke out in the neighboring Marseille region, where two blazes on Thursday were brought under control, but not yet extinguished.

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said nearly 7,000 fires have broken out since the start of the summer season, with some 8,700 hectares already burned. “The situation is fairly tense,” he said.

In the Aude region, four water-bomber aircraft were deployed to support firefighters.

“The idea is to bring the fire under control quickly because temperatures are rising and the wind is growing stronger,” Alain Bucquet, the Aude prefect, told France Info channel.

The Aude is regularly hit by wildfires and firefighters last year contained France’s largest wildfire in decades in the region.

Further south, spreading blazes in the seaside resort of Canet-en-Roussillon forced the evacuation of 1,500 people from three campsites and tore through hundreds of mobile homes, said the regional prefect, Pierre Regnault de la Mothe.

Firefighters were engaged in “a fierce struggle” to prevent the flames from spreading in an industrial zone, he said.

High temperatures and drought conditions are expected to continue, with no rain forecast in the coming days, following heat waves in May and at the end of June.

Plants and vegetation are under severe water stress, adding to the danger of fires, while strong winds are blowing across the Mediterranean region.