French firefighters are continuing to battle a wildfire that reached the outer edge of Marseille and has left more than 100 people injured.
The city’s mayor Benoit Payan told local media on Wednesday morning that the blaze was “decreasing” but was still not completely under control.
Restrictions which were imposed yesterday in the outskirts of Marseille have been lifted following a “significant decline” in the spread of the fire, the mayor wrote on X.
According to the interior ministry, 110 people have been slightly injured - including nine firefighters and 22 police officers - since Tuesday.
At least 400 people have been evacuated from their homes, according to French media.
Residents had earlier been warned to stay indoors and urged not to evacuate unless they were instructed to, so the roads would be clear for emergency vehicles.
Mayor Payan earlier said the “marine firefighter battalion is waging guerrilla warfare, hoses in hand,” referring to Marseille’s fire and rescue service.
At its peak, the fire spread at a rate of 1.2km (0.7 miles) per minute, the mayor said, according to French broadcaster BFMTV. He blamed a combination of wind gusts, dense vegetation, and steep slopes.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who was on a state visit to the UK, expressed support for fire crews and called for residents to follow safety instructions.
“Our thoughts are with the injured and all residents,” he wrote on X.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau arrived in Marseille on Tuesday evening, where he met local officials.
He said about 800 firefighters were at the scene and efforts to tackle the blaze would continue “all night”, as the fire was not yet contained.
Marseille Provence airport said flights would resume “without restrictions” at 9:30 local time (7:30 GMT) on Wednesday, but disruptions were expected.
The airport, one of the busiest in France, partially reopened at 21:30 local time on Tuesday after being closed throughout the day.
Julien Coffinier, the airport’s president, said he had “never experienced a situation of this magnitude”.
The fire, which broke out earlier on Tuesday near Pennes-Mirabeau, north of Marseille, is said to have covered about 700 hectares (7 sq km).
Local authorities said the blaze was sparked by a car that caught fire on the motorway.
“It’s very striking - apocalyptic even,” Monique Baillard, a resident of the town, told
Reuters news agency. She said many of her neighbours had already left.
Footage showed huge plumes of smoke above Marseille as fire raged in a hilly area to its north.
The Bouches-du-Rhône area has not recorded a single drop of rain since 19 May, according to BFMTV.
Elsewhere in France, another wildfire that started near Narbonne on Monday remains active, fanned by winds of 60km/h (40mph). Some 2,000 hectares have burnt, local officials said.
Wildfires were also reported in other parts of Europe, including the Catalonia region of north-east Spain, where more than 18,000 people were ordered to stay at home on Tuesday because of a wildfire in the eastern province of Tarragona.
Emergency units were deployed alongside 300 firefighters as high winds overnight fanned the flames, which have spread across nearly 3,000 hectares (7,413 acres) of land.
Several other parts of Spain - which experienced its hottest June on record - were on high alert for wildfires.
In Greece, some 41 wildfires broke out across the country on Monday. Of those, 34 were contained early while seven remained active into Monday evening, according to the fire service.
Much of western and southern Europe was hit by a scorching early summer heatwave, sparking fires that saw thousands evacuated from their homes.
Source: BBC
--Agencies
