Fontainebleau forest near Paris hit by 'very virulent' wildfire

Fontainebleau forest near Paris hit by 'very virulent' wildfire A fast-moving wildfire south of Paris scorched about 800 hectares of the Fontainebleau forest, prompting France to deploy two firefighting aircraft as crews battled to contain the blaze, officials said on Monday. The fire forced partial closures of the A6 motorway during a busy summer holiday weekend amid an intense heatwave. French officials rushed two firefighting planes to the Paris region Sunday, after a fire erupted south of the French capital, disrupting traffic during a busy summer travel weekend and piling more misery on a region sweltering through its latest heatwave. The fire, which officials described as "very virulent" and of "exceptional scale", began late afternoon in the sprawling Fontainebleau forest about 60 kilometres (40 miles) south-east of the capital, a onetime royal hunting preserve that today is dotted with quiet villages. It had raced across 800 hectares and was still spreading, officials said early Monday, causing the partial closure of the A6 highway, the country's main north-south artery. And with nightfall, firefighting aircraft had been forced to suspend their operations. Around 15 homes had been evacuated in the nearby village of Vaudoue and firefighters were defending several other towns in the area, said the local Seine-et-Marne fire service. Without the firefighting planes, other villages would already have been evacuated, said Olivier Compta, who is overseeing the firefighting operation. To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. Around 400 firefighters worked to contain the flames, which erupted just ahead of the July 14 national holiday and on the first major weekend for departures for the summer holiday season. Traffic was disrupted along highways in the area, as well as along the high-speed rail line leading to the south-east of the country. Eric Brocardi, of France's national federation of firemen, said it was the first time fire bomber planes had been sent up from the normally drier and hotter south of the country to extinguish fires in the Paris region. Two firefighting helicopters and an observation aircraft were also helping to fight the blaze, he added. "The aim is to save lives and property," he said later, as the fire advanced. Earlier, firefighters dealt with a fire that had blocked a highway running east from Paris and disrupted a high-speed train line to the south of France. Third heatwave French rail company SNCF said on Sunday evening there were delays of up to six hours for trains arriving at or leaving from Paris's Gare de Lyon. At the station, 34-year-old physiotherapist Kelly took the delay in stride. "It's global warming," she said. "It's the disruption of the seasons...there are political decisions to be taken." The Paris region -- and large parts of the rest of France -- is currently experiencing the third heatwave since May, increasing the risk of fires. Read moreThousands evacuated in southwestern France as wildfire burns out of control The three heatwaves have seen temperature records broken in several countries across Europe and have caused thousands of excess deaths, according to estimates in Belgium, Britain, France and Spain. The June heatwaves would have been "virtually impossible" without climate change, the World Weather Attribution group of scientists said. Several other European countries have faced record-breaking average temperatures. In France, the heatwave has also led officials to shut down three of the country's nuclear power stations. And organisers of the Tour de France cycling race shortened Sunday's stage by 30 kilometres (19 miles) as temperatures on the route approached 40C. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, whose office announced he would visit Fontainebleau on Monday, said that forest fires had already consumed 17,000 hectares this year. Once the figures had all been tallied, that would come to 25,000 hectares -- "twice as much as the same period" in 2025, he added. (FRANCE 24 with AFP)