Wildfires remain active across the south-east of France this morning, with the blaze at Pontevès in the Var still not under control and seven Mediterranean departments placed on alert for a high fire risk, even as the country’s attention centres on the megafire threatening Bordeaux.
The Pontevès fire has now covered 4,500 hectares and is not yet contained, with all of the Var’s forest massifs closed to the public for the day and gusts of wind forecast throughout. The prefect of the Var, Simon Babre, said two Canadair water-bombers would join the effort, alongside four water-bombing helicopters — two of them heavy — supplied by Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia, which had already begun drops this morning.
Three deliberate fire-starts at Varages
Overnight, three deliberate fire-starts were reported in the commune of Varages, north-west of the Pontevès blaze, the prefecture and Captain Mario Aulino confirmed. “These three ignitions have nothing to do with the Pontevès incident,” Aulino said, stressing they were unconnected to the main fire.
Corsica and the Landes
In Haute-Corse, two significant fires are mobilising crews, one at Corte having burned 950 hectares and a second at Biguglia 150. In the Landes, the fire between Biscarrosse and Sanguinet has covered 3,600 hectares and destroyed 198 homes, but did not progress overnight after rain arrived, and the prefect described a calmer situation. A separate blaze in the Hautes-Alpes has left five firefighters lightly injured.
Seven departments on alert
Météo-France has placed seven Mediterranean departments — the Pyrénées-Orientales, Aude, Hérault, Gard, Vaucluse, Bouches-du-Rhône and Var — on orange alert for a fire risk judged ‘high’. For those on the Riviera and across the wider Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, the immediate danger remains the tinder-dry conditions and the possibility of new outbreaks rather than the current fronts. Residents can track active fires in near real time on the public map at gisfire.saro.app.
See also:
France battles historic megafire as flames near Bordeaux and 220,000 flee
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Main photo: the wildfires as seen from Brue-Auriac, credit: Thomas Delacoste