Two intense wildfires in the south of France have burnt over 400 acres of land, with hundreds of firefighters tackling the blazes.
In addition, thousands of holidaymakers were evacuated overnight after a third fire broke out in a field just 100 metres from a campsite near the Spanish border.
The first and largest of the wildfires started on Sunday (August 18) afternoon, whilst the second one – which is still ongoing – started around 23:00.
Both fires broke out in Hérault, which has been under increased forest fire warnings due to weather conditions. In both situations, it is unknown as yet what started the fire.
Firefighters and planes deployed
The first fire broke out in the Gigean commune, 150 metres from the A9 motorway, and began rapidly spreading due to strong winds.
It broke out only a few dozen kilometres from Montpellier, the department's capital, and spread south towards Frontignan, a town of 24,000 people on the Mediterranean coast.
People from the town were evacuated, with homes thought to be at risk from the blaze. No one was injured, however.
Around 600 firefighters were called to help tackle the blaze, and after several hours of struggle they managed to get it under control.
Tactics included using water from swimming pools in the local area to tackle the blaze, as the spread of the fire became unpredictable, and additional water was needed.
Around 340 acres of land in the commune and nearby forest were destroyed.
Up to 450 firefighters remain on site, reducing the risk of a second blaze beginning – forest fires are more likely to rekindle in areas that have recently been subject to a wildfire.
The second fire broke out in Nissan-lez-Enserune, around 60km west of Gigean.
The fire began to spread quickly because of strong winds in the area and more than 200 firefighters were deployed to the area.
They helped prevent the fire from spreading overnight, but it is still burning this morning. Around 60 hectares of land have been destroyed.
“The fire is still evolving, particularly on the right-hand side, which is not easily accessible,” the Hérault prefecture stated this morning.
Firefighting aviation craft have been sent to the area to help put out the blaze.
The prefecture has also asked people not to intervene and to refrain from stopping to take photographs if passing near the site.
Campers evacuated
A third fire led to 3,000 campers being evacuated from a site near Canet-en-Roussillon overnight.
It broke out around 02:30 this morning, very close to the popular summer tourist destination Mar Estang.
“The fire spread very quickly with a northerly wind blowing at 80 km/h in the direction of the Mar Estang campsite, located 100 metres south of where the fire started,” said firefighters from the Pyrénées-Orientales department.
The campers were evacuated to shelters in neighbouring villages, as over 100 firefighters tackled the blaze. As of 08:00 today, they are still in these temporary shelters, and have not been able to return to the campsite.
Six people – four firefighters and two civilians – were injured during the fire. One (a firefighter) was taken to Perpignan hospital.
Photos and videos of the fire can be seen on the social media post below:
Keep up to date with forest fire information
Last week, The Connexion published an article about the low number of forest fires so far experienced in France this summer.
Read more: Why so few forest fires this summer in France despite heatwaves?
However, it warned that the risk had not fully passed, as conditions were still ripe for fires to break out. Unfortunately, that has been proven with Sunday’s blazes.
You can keep up to date with national forest fire warnings via the forest fire risk map, published daily by Météo France here.
It provides a general warning over the likelihood of fires breaking out in each department.
The Hérault and Pyrénées-Orientales departments continue to face heightened warnings today (August 19).
In addition, departments where wildfire risks are high often publish daily updates on local conditions, including closing off certain forests and reserves to members of the public.
Today, 11 massifs in the Hérault and Bouches-du-Rhône departments are closed due to heightened risk of forest fires.
You can read about how to access daily prefecture updates on forest closures in our article below.
Read more: South of France on high alert for fire, forests closed off
Unrelated to France's blazes, skies in Brittany have been turned yellow by smoke today, originating from wildfires in Canada.
The effects have been particularly strong in coastal areas.
