“This fire is far from over. There are fronts in hard-to-reach areas that we haven’t dealt with and they’re moving forward freely,” Lt. Col. Eric Agrinier, a senior fire service official, said Friday. “It will be a feat of endurance,” he added later, warning that the fire may not be brought under control until Sunday due to adverse weather conditions. Working into the night after the fire started late Thursday, firefighters deployed boomerangs to protect residential areas. “We are burning some pieces [of the forest] So when the fire spreads, it reaches an already burned zone and slows down, that makes it easier to stop it,” said Zach Page, standing in front of a line of flames lighting up the pitch-black forest. The fire, described by emergency responders as a “mega-fire”, started near the village of Bordezac and forced the evacuation of nearby Besez and other settlements on Thursday night. The local prefect’s office said about 100 people had to be accommodated in cottages and restaurants in the area, which is about 90 kilometers (55 miles) north of Montpellier and the Mediterranean coast. “I’ve found rooms for people and all the cottages are doing the same,” said Regine Marchand, manager of a restaurant in nearby Aujac, on Thursday night. “We’ve made pasta for them, people quickly left without bringing anything, but they keep their spirits up, there’s a good atmosphere.” By Friday, people’s homes were no longer in danger, with only a garage and a small shed damaged. The fire department of the Gard region announced on Friday morning that 13 firefighters were slightly injured. In addition to personnel on the ground, two planes have been dropping water since dawn. By Friday, the air deployment had expanded to 12 firefighting planes and two helicopters. Roads were closed to traffic entering the Bessèges area, while hundreds of firefighters remained at the scene, some from neighboring areas. Like large swathes of the country, southeastern France has suffered from drought this year, increasing the risk of wildfires. During an unusual heat wave last month, about 600 hectares burned in a fire started by shelling at an army artillery training range near the Mediterranean port of Marseille. Firefighters in this Bouches-du-Rhône region were called to deal with 35 fires on Thursday, many of them near residential areas. Four houses were destroyed near the southern city of Arles and 250 firefighters were called to a blaze in Saint-Mitre-les-Remparts. Although several other fires started in southern France on Thursday, most were extinguished before nightfall. The fire service said thousands of hectares of forest land were under threat as winds of up to 50mph fanned the flames through dry trees. Wind is firefighters’ “worst enemy,” Agrinier said. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every weekday morning at 7am France’s national weather service put several neighboring areas on red alert Friday for fire risks, and France’s environment ministry warned citizens in the region to be aware of fire risks. Fires have also hit other countries in Europe this summer, including Greece and Portugal. Scientists say climate change is bringing more drought and warmer temperatures that make it easier for fires to start and spread.
