Massive wildfire devastates southern France, dozens of homes lost • FRANCE 24 English

in the south of France continue to battle the country’s largest wildfire in decades. The blaze continues to spread for a third day, though at a slower pace. Nearly 17,000 hectares, have so far burned. One person has died and at least 13 others, including 11 firefighters have been injured. On Tuesday, the French prime minister said the fire in the region of Od was a catastrophe on an unprecedented scale. We can now go across to Caris Garland down in the south of France who’s covering the fires for us. Uh Caris, good afternoon. Tell us about where exactly you are. I’m standing on what remains of the property of Francis Bat. France 24 spoke to him a little earlier. Uh he left this home on Tuesday afternoon when the fire arrived from the hills behind me. He told us that the flames arrived so quickly in a matter of minutes that he just managed to grab some of his animals, get in a car, and leave. Uh he’s now staying with a friend, and now he’s come back to assess the damage. He was hoping to be able to salvage something, but unfortunately uh behind me is the remains of the house, which he said he built with his uh parents. So, has a lot of sentimental value. He said that he’s lost a lot of uh furniture that he held very dearly to him. Uh not only that, but letters from his grandparents, of course. And then we have uh the remains of all of these Citroen vintage uh cars. Uh he was very passionate about collecting uh these kinds of things. And it actually took him 30 years to get to the point where he was at in his collection. And it might just sound like any collection, but this is really a passion uh to Francis. He uh collected this, not only just the cars, but the manuals and everything that went along with it. And for him it was about uh preserving and uh preserving the industrial heritage and the knowhow of the past. Now his story of course isn’t the only one uh to be uh devastated by these fires here. Just behind this house actually is the home where a 65year-old woman passed away. She went back to uh get her dog but unfortunately uh it was too late. And of course it’s not only them. There are 15 uh towns at least that have been affected by these fires and I also spoke to some of those who were evacuated nearby saying that they still are waiting to hear the news that they can go back to their homes. Uh them too having just left with the clothes on their backs. So Caris, these fires clearly are taking a really personal toll on people who live uh in these towns. And where are we right now when it comes to containing uh these fires? Well, firefighters were hoping to contain this blaze uh this Thursday. The fight is not over. We just heard a little earlier from authorities who spoke. Uh the fire has now traveled across 17,000 hectares. That’s huge as we know when we were talking about 16,000. We were already saying that this is an area larger than Paris uh the city itself. Uh so we can hear uh here the uh water bombing aircraft going to and fro. There’s still uh smoke billowing on the horizon to my right and behind me uh all the scorched remains of vineyards and other things like that. And for the the firefighters there on the ground, they’re still uh going to and fro. Different teams are taking over. A little earlier, France 24 saw uh one firefighter putting drops in his eyes after uh getting too much smoke from being on the front lines of this fire uh for 48 hours. So, it’s a fight that is ongoing. Uh Dano, and the authorities here say that it’s going to be several days before the fire can be put out entirely. Indeed, I thought there were some 2,000 firefighters who are currently working to battle these blazes. Thank you very much for that, Caris.

As more than 2,000 firefighters continue battling the largest wildfire France has seen in nearly 80 years, FRANCE 24’s journalist Carys Garland is on the ground among the burnt-out homes. Residents from about 15 villages have been evacuated, and dozens of houses like these have been reduced to ashes.
#France #wildfire #fire

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16 comments

  4. It's only just the start. Turns out, climate change isn't linear, but exponential. Many don't grasp how dramatic exponential growth is… picture a small lake on which you have a canoe you paddle around in. There is one lily pad floating on the surface. It is going to grow exponentially. So, tomorrow there are two lily pads. The next day four, the next eight. The day comes half of the lake is covered in lily pads, but no real problem, you can still paddle your canoe and enjoy it. However, when you come back tomorrow, the entire lake will be covered in lily pads, and you can canoe no more.

  9. As an American living very close to an area of Los Angeles County where over 9,000 homes and businesses were destroyed or damaged in January 2025, words cannot describe how devastated I am for the good folks of Southern France. Stay strong. 💪

  15. Preserving the industrial heritage responsible for the fire that destroyed it. There's some poetic justice in that.

  16. When was the last time, historically, of out of control wildfires in France; what do the stats show, never heard of that in our whole lives. ????

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