weather was hot, dry and windy<\/a>, making it difficult for firefighters to contain the blaze.<\/p>\nVillagers sought to help douse the flames or save their homes and small businesses, and described their alarm at the fire\u2019s speed. Ash filled the air and coated windows and cars, and several roads were closed around the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sky was blue, and then less than an hour later the sky was orange,\u201d said Andy Pickup of Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, at the heart of the fire zone. \u201cThat\u2019s when we went out and tried to help.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe heard pops and cracks \u2014 it was the trees, it was the village,\u201d he told The Associated Press. \u201cWe could see the fires taking hold on all the hills around Saint-Laurent.\u201d At dusk, he said, they saw fires in every direction, some as near as 100 yards away.<\/p>\n
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said the military will reinforce efforts starting from Thursday, with several dozen soldiers to be deployed.<\/p>\n
One person died in their home, and at least 13 others were injured, including 11 firefighters, local authorities said. Three people were missing, the prefecture said.<\/p>\n
Jacques Piraux, mayor of the village of Jonqui\u00e8res, said all residents have been evacuated.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a scene of sadness and desolation,\u201d he told broadcaster BFM TV after visiting there on Wednesday morning. \u201cIt looks like a lunar landscape, everything is burned. More than half or three-quarters of the village has burned down. It\u2019s hellish.\u201d<\/p>\n
Residents and tourists in nearby areas were requested to remain in their homes unless told to evacuate. Two campgrounds were evacuated as a precaution.<\/p>\n
The prime minister met Wednesday afternoon with firefighters and residents at Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, where the fire service\u2019s command post has been set up. He said he came to express \u201cnational solidarity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The area\u2019s economy is relying on winery and tourism and \u201cboth sectors are affected,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n
Bayrou said an investigation is ongoing to determine the cause of the fire.<\/p>\n
The environment ministry said the Aude region has been experiencing a drought this month, with water use restrictions in place. Lack of rainfall in recent months \u201cplayed a major role in the spreading of the fire, since the vegetation is very dry,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
This week\u2019s fire was the biggest since the creation of a national fire database in 2006, according to the national emergency service.<\/p>\n
Southern Europe has seen multiple large fires this summer. Scientists warn that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness<\/a>, making the region more vulnerable to wildfires. Last month, a wildfire that reached the southern port of Marseille, France\u2019s second-largest city, left around 300 people injured.<\/p>\nEurope is the world\u2019s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing at twice the speed of the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union\u2019s Copernicus Climate Change Service.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve lived here for 10 years and we\u2019ve seen nothing like that,\u2019\u2019 Pickup said. \u2018\u2019Consistently the summers are getting hotter, there is less and less rain, and that is a major problem.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been told the wind might come stronger tomorrow,\u2019\u2019 he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"France\u2019s biggest wildfire in years was spreading quickly Wednesday in a Mediterranean region near Spain after leaving one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2000,299,36],"class_list":{"0":"post-324245","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-france"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114985500861023946","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}