France\u2019s most devastating wildfire in decades remains active despite being brought under control, officials announced, as firefighting efforts continue with hundreds of personnel.<\/p>\n
The massive blaze in Aude has scorched more than 17,000 hectares (42,000 acres) \u2013 an area larger than Paris \u2013 killing one person, injuring another 13 and destroying numerous homes.<\/p>\n
Approximately 2,000 firefighters remain deployed to combat the flames, which were declared under control on Thursday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fire will not be declared extinguished for several days,\u201d said Christian Pouget, Aude\u2019s prefect. \u201cThere is still a lot of work to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Officials have restricted access to the devastated forests until at least Sunday due to hazardous conditions, including fallen power lines and other dangers.<\/p>\n
Pouget confirmed that roughly 2,000 evacuees still await clearance to return home, with hundreds sheltering in school gymnasiums and community centres throughout the region.<\/p>\n
This wildfire is the largest in France\u2019s Mediterranean region in at least 50 years, according to government monitoring agencies. The southern area is particularly susceptible to such fires.<\/p>\n
At its peak, the blaze consumed about 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) per hour, Narbonne authorities reported. Shifting strong winds over two days made the fire\u2019s behaviour unpredictable.<\/p>\n
A 65-year-old woman who refused evacuation orders was found dead in her burned home, while 13 others were injured, including 11 firefighters.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, visiting the affected area on Wednesday, called the wildfire a \u201ccatastrophe on an unprecedented scale\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is happening today is linked to global warming and linked to drought,\u201d Bayrou said.<\/p>\n
Environment Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher wrote in a post on X that this was France\u2019s largest fire since 1949. The country has experienced approximately 9,000 wildfires this summer, primarily near the Mediterranean coast.<\/p>\n
Aude has seen increasing burn areas in recent years, exacerbated by reduced rainfall and vineyard removals that previously helped slow fire progression.<\/p>\n
In Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, the hardest-hit village, thick smoke continued rising on Thursday from pine-covered hills overlooking vineyards where dry grass still burned.<\/p>\n
With Europe facing new August heatwaves, many regions remain on wildfire alert. Portugal extended emergency measures on Thursday due to heightened fire risks.<\/p>\n
Near Spain\u2019s Tarifa, fire crews secured areas around tourist accommodation after controlling a major blaze that destroyed hundreds of hectares.<\/p>\n
Climate experts indicate that global warming is driving longer, more intense and more frequent heatwaves worldwide, creating more favourable conditions for forest fires.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"France\u2019s most devastating wildfire in decades remains active despite being brought under control, officials announced, as firefighting efforts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[7029,4174,2000,299,36,16494,12],"class_list":{"0":"post-329130","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-climate","9":"tag-climate-crisis","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-france","13":"tag-gallery","14":"tag-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114995811047752796","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329130","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=329130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}