A fierce forest fire has burned down about 16,000 hectares of forest and countryside in southern France, becoming the country's biggest fire since00. The authorities said the fire was brought under control on August 7 (local time) but firefighters were still on duty to prevent a new outbreak.
The fire broke out near the Spanish-mediteranian border, spreading rapidly due to strong winds, dry vegetation and a drought that lasted for many months.
About 2,000 residents and tourists have been evacuated, while many roads are still blocked and some areas have lost power. There was a time when 5,000 households had power outages, but by the evening of August 7, there were still about 1,500 households that had not had their power restored.
The disaster took the life of a woman who did not comply with evacuation orders, injuring 18 people, including 16 firefighters. A total of 36 houses were burned down, 20 others were damaged. Alain Reneau, a farmer in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, said his family had to fight all night to save their home, but were completely without water, electricity and the Internet.
Nearly 2,000 firefighters were mobilized to control the fire. Deputy Governor Remi Recio said the rate of fire spread had decreased thanks to changes in wind direction. However, Provincial Governor Christian Pouget warned that the risk of a fire breaking out again still exists.
Environment Minister Pannier-Runacher said this is a result of climate change and drought. The authorities are investigating the cause. Scientists warn that the increasingly hot and dry summer in the Mediterranean will increase the risk of forest fires.
