A massive wildfire that has scorched through 16,000 hectares of forest and villages in southern France since Tuesday was spreading more slowly yesterday but was still not under control, officials said.
France’s biggest wildfire in nearly eight decades has killed a woman who officials said had disregarded evacuation orders and destroyed dozens of houses, forcing more than 2,000 residents and holidaymakers to flee.
“We don’t have water, Internet and electricity anymore. We have nothing. It’s the apocalypse,” said resident and farmer Alain Reneau, who lives in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, a village hit hard by the fire. “We saved the house, but we had to fight the whole night, for two days.”
Plumes of smoke rose over the forest area in the Aude region.
Drone footage showed swathes of charred earth after the fire swept across an area one-and-a-half times the size of Paris.
The blaze, not far from the border with Spain and the Mediterranean Sea, has spread unusually rapidly, fanned by strong winds and very dry vegetation, following months of drought in the area.
“The fire’s progression is slowing down, but we are still dealing with an active fire,” the region’s deputy prefect Remi Recio said.
“Compared to yesterday, the progression has significantly decreased because the weather conditions have changed, notably the wind direction,” Le Monde newspaper quoted Recio as saying.
Close to 2,000 firemen were on the ground to fight any flare-ups. The territory the wildfire has gone through – around 17,000 hectares – was up slightly from the 16,000 recorded on Wednesday night. “The battle isn’t over yet, the fire could reignite with greater force,” prefect Christian Pouget said earlier.
Environment Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said the fire was the biggest one France has experienced since 1949. “This is a wildfire that is a consequence of climate change, of drought in this region,” she told France Info radio.
Thirteen people have been injured in the fire, officials said. Two people, including a fireman, are in a critical condition.
An investigation is underway to identify the cause of the blaze.
“Never in my life (have I seen) fires like this,” 77-year-old retiree Simon Gomez said in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse.
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