VILLEROUGE LA CREMADE, France (AP) — Firefighters and local authorities remained on high alert Friday after France’s largest wildfire in decades was contained in the south of the country, amid forecasts of very high temperatures which could reignite the blaze.
Over three days, the fire spread across more than 160 square kilometers (62 square miles) in the Aude wine region and claimed one life, forcing hundreds of residents to flee their homes.
In hot and dry weather, the blaze quickly spread with a perimeter reaching 90 kilometers and local authorities said they need to remain vigilant throughout the weekend as temperatures are expected to rise above 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) during another heat wave.
Region administrator Christian Pouget said some 1,000 people have not yet been able to return to their homes after the fire swept through 15 communes in the Corbières mountain region, destroying or damaging at least 36 homes. One person died at home, and at least 21 others were injured, including 16 firefighters, according to local authorities.
Some 1,300 homes were still without electricity on Friday morning after infrastructure was extensively damaged, the Aude prefecture said. Residents have been warned not to return home without authorization, as many roads remain blocked and dangerous. Those forced to flee have been housed in emergency shelters across 17 municipalities.
“On Tuesday when the fire started, we learned that the inhabitants of the nearby village of Durban-Corbières were arriving in Tuchan," Beatrice Bertrand, the mayor of Tuchan, told The Associated Press. "We have received and hosted over 200 people. We gave them food, thanks to local businesses who opened their stores despite it being very late.
"Civil Protection brought us beds. And also the local villagers offered their homes to welcome them. It was their first night here and many were shocked and scared.”
An investigation is underway to determine what sparked the fire.
The fire was the largest recorded since France’s national fire database was created in 2006. But France’s minister for ecological transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, called the blaze the worst since 1949 and linked it to climate change.
Southern Europe has seen multiple large fires this summer. Scientists warn that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, making the region more vulnerable to wildfires. Last month, a wildfire that reached the southern port of Marseille, France’s second-largest city, left around 300 people injured.
Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing at twice the speed of the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Hernan Munoz, The Associated Press
