DM Monitoring
PARIS: Thousands of people, including tourists in campsites, have been moved to safety as firefighters tackle a wildfire close to the French Riviera. Many were given only minutes to leave as hundreds of firefighters were deployed in the Var region to the west of Saint-Tropez. Fire officials say the blaze broke out on Monday and has consumed some 6,000 hectares (14,820 acres).
Twenty people suffered smoke inhalation and six firefighters were hurt. BBC TV presenter Geeta Guru-Murthy described fleeing on foot as flames approached on both sides of the road. The fire ignited during an intense heatwave, with forecasters expecting temperatures of up to 35C on Tuesday. President Emmanuel Macron, who was on holiday in the area, visited firefighters who were trying to bring the fires under control.
Southern France is the latest area in Europe to be ravaged by wildfires this summer as temperatures soar to record levels around the Mediterranean. Scientists say heatwaves are becoming more likely and more extreme because of climate change driven by human-induced carbon emissions. Greece, Turkey, Spain and Portugal are among the countries that have been grappling with wildfires that have claimed lives and destroyed homes.
The blaze in southern France started near the village of Gonfaron, about 50km (30 miles) west of of Saint-Tropez. By Tuesday morning, it had swept across more than 5,000 hectares of forest and scrubland, the local fire department said. Firefighting aircraft dumped water to help douse the flames. Var’s local government said 900 firefighters and 120 police had been deployed. Most of the evacuations took place around the villages of La Môle and Grimaud.
Seven campsites were cleared of tourists, a local official told BFMTV, and some were destroyed by the fire as the flames – fanned by strong winds – spread rapidly.
Guru-Murthy described how she and her family had tried to escape with their car in Cogolin, just to the west of the Gulf of Saint-Tropez, but the flames became too intense.
“We tried to turn around and the car went into a ditch, so we had to run a mile in the only direction we could go to, with huge fires on both sides of the road,” she said.
Tourists and residents in those areas have been sheltering in town halls, collages and gyms. The owner of a local restaurant and equestrian centre in Grimaud, Gino Colanesi, said his horses had been saved but everything had been razed to the ground.
