VILLEROUGE LA CREMADE, France (AP) — Firefighters who helped contain France’s largest wildfire in decades were on high alert Friday with high temperatures forecast that could reignite the blaze in the country's south. Fires prompted evacuations elsewhere in the Mediterranean region.
The fire in France's Aude wine country claimed one life and quickly spread over more than 160 square kilometers (62 square miles) over three days in hot and dry weather, forcing hundreds of residents to flee their homes.
Local authorities said they need to remain vigilant throughout the weekend because temperatures were expected to rise above 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) during another heat wave.
Meanwhile, wildfires forced authorities to order evacuations near the Greek capital and in northern Turkey, where authorities also had to temporarily suspend maritime traffic through the Dardanelles due to the smoke.
In France, Aude administrator Christian Pouget said some 1,000 people have not yet been able to return to their homes after the fire swept through 15 communes in the Corbières mountain region, destroying or damaging at least 36 homes. One person died at home, and at least 21 others were injured, including 16 firefighters, according to local authorities.
Hundreds of homes without electricity and many roads blocked
Some 1,300 homes were still without electricity on Friday morning after infrastructure was extensively damaged, the Aude prefecture said. Residents have been warned not to return home without authorization, as many roads remain blocked and dangerous. Those forced to flee have been housed in emergency shelters across 17 municipalities.
Many fled to the community of Tuchan when the fire started on Tuesday, its mayor Beatrice Bertrand told The Associated Press.
“We have received and hosted over 200 people. We gave them food, thanks to local businesses who opened their stores despite it being very late,” Bertrand said. "Civil Protection brought us beds. And also the local villagers offered their homes to welcome them. It was their first night here and many were shocked and scared.”
In the hamlet of Coustouge, Paulette Ricard, a local resident said neighbors were left to battle the encroaching flames with little more than garden hoses and stored rainwater.
“The village was surrounded by fire. Flames all around us,” she said. “There was only one fire truck.”
Ricard's family worked through the night dousing small blazes in gardens and orchards before firefighters arrived.
Remi Recio, deputy prefect of Narbonne, said crews were using thermal drones and GPS mapping to monitor for flareups. “We are watching very carefully the hot spots,” he said. “With that, we’re able to detect with precision the potential places for reignition.”
More than 1,000 personnel remained deployed in the fire zone and an investigation was underway to determine what sparked the fire.
Authorities said the fire was the largest recorded since France’s national fire database was created in 2006. But France’s minister for ecological transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, went even further — calling the blaze the worst since 1949 and linked it to climate change.
The Mediterranean basin has seen multiple large fires this summer. Scientists warn that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, making the region more vulnerable to wildfires. Last month, a wildfire that reached the southern port of Marseille, France’s second-largest city, left around 300 people injured.
Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing at twice the speed of the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Wildfire threatens homes in Greece
A fast-moving wildfire on Friday forced a series of evacuations southeast of the capital Athens. The blaze approached residential areas as firefighters battled strong winds.
The fire advanced over scrub-covered hillsides in the Keratea region, spreading through an area with scattered homes, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Athens. The Fire Service said one man was found dead during evacuation. There were no additional details.
As the flames tore through clusters of homes, gas canisters used for cooking exploded, cars went up in flames and residents battled from porches to save their homes.
Eleftheria, a local resident who only gave her first name, filled plastic buckets full of water, joined by her 86-year-old mother who struggled to stand because of the high winds.
“It came really fast, and suddenly the fire reached our home,” Eleftheria said. “The wind is so strong. It’s hard to stop. Thankfully they responded fast and the helicopters flew really low, over our heads”
Firefighting planes and helicopters swooped over the flames that sent thick black clouds of smokes toward coastal areas. Authorities deployed 190 firefighters supported by volunteers, and police blocked traffic in the area to allow fire trucks through.
Strong winds disrupted ferry services at ports around Athens.
Wildfire in Turkey prompts evacuations
A wildfire fueled by strong winds in northwest Turkey prompted authorities to evacuate a university campus and an elderly care home and to suspend some maritime traffic Friday, reports said.
The flow of ships through the Dardanelles Strait was temporarily halted due to heavy smoke and reduced visibility in the narrow waterway.
The fire broke out at an agricultural field near Saricaeli village, in Canakkale province, before spreading rapidly into a nearby forested area. With the flames approaching dangerously close to the care home and a campus of the Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, both facilities were evacuated as a precaution, the Cumhuriyet newspaper and other media reported.
Footage aired by Haberturk TV showed a fire truck being engulfed in flames, forcing firefighters to flee for safety.
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Gatopoulos reported from Keratea, Greece.
Hernan Munoz And Derek Gatopoulos, The Associated Press
