Hundreds of firefighters struggled for a third day Wednesday to contain France’s worst wildfire of the summer near the glitzy Riviera resort of Saint-Tropez which has forced thousands of residents and tourists to flee.
The blaze has scorched some 5,000 hectares in a region known for its forests, vineyards, and fauna since it broke out in the Plaine des Maures nature reserve on Monday evening.
The fire “had not spread” during the night but “that does not mean it is under control,” said the fire service spokesman for the Var region, Franck Graciano.
“We will carry out the same basic work as yesterday by dropping water on the critical places,” he said.
Some 1,200 firefighters were deployed, using high-pressure hoses and water-bombing planes and helicopters to control the flames.
High temperatures and strong winds forced local authorities to evacuate around 7,000 people from homes and campsites, the Var prefecture said Tuesday, many to the safety of municipal buildings and schools.
Among them were 1,300 people staying at a campsite in the village of Bormes-les-Mimosas down the coast from Saint-Tropez.
Others fled the village of La-Garde-Freinet, but there were no new evacuations overnight, the fire service said Wednesday.
“We started smelling the smoke around 7:00 pm, then we saw the flames on the hill,” said Cindy Thinesse, who fled a campsite near Cavalaire on Monday evening.
“We hesitated, but when we saw that, we decided to leave,” she told AFP.
“The coming hours will be absolutely decisive” for the firefighting effort, President Emmanuel Macron, who has been taking his summer break on the Mediterranean coast, said during visit to first responders Tuesday evening.
While Macron added that “the battle is ongoing and the fire has not yet been contained, stabilised,” he said that the firefighters’ courage had managed to “avoid the worst” with no casualties so far.
Large blazes have already ravaged parts of Turkey, Bulgaria, Albania, Northern Macedonia, Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Israel, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco this year.