France’s Largest Wildfire in Nearly 80 Years Contained, Say Officials

The blaze broke out on Tuesday near the village of La Ribaute in the southern Aude department, and continued to spread throughout the night, extending to area larger than Paris. On Thursday, officials confirmed firefighters had finally contained the fire, the largest in the country since 1949.

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A catastrophic wildfire that has ravaged through southern France has been contained, officials said on Thursday.

Over 2,100 firefighters, several water bomber aircraft, and even the military were deployed to control the fire, which broke out near the village of La Ribaute in the southern Aude department and rapidly expanded through the Corbières, a hilly region at the foot of the Pyrénées mountain range. The fire spanned more than 17,000 hectares (42,000 acres), an area larger than Paris and roughly equivalent to the total area burned across all of France in several of the past years, according to Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau. It was the biggest area burnt by one single fire in France since 1949

The blaze surged forward on Wednesday, killing an elderly woman and leaving several injured, authorities said.

Strong winds were making the firefighters’ job particularly difficult and people as far as 30 kilometres away have felt the impact of the fire. Residents have been urged not to return home, and 17 temporary accommodation sites have been opened across the region, according to a statement from the Aude prefecture.

Jacques Piraux, Mayor of the village of Jonquières, described the fire as “a lunar landscape.”

“Everything is burned. More than half or three-quarters of the village has burned down. It’s hellish,” he told French broadcaster BFM TV.

The provisional material damage report released by the Aude prefecture indicates that 36 homes were destroyed, 20 others damaged, along with 18 barns and 3 chalets completely destroyed, and 54 vehicles burned. Of the 17,000 hectares affected, 11,000 hectares burned were forest.

While officials on Thursday confirmed that the fires were contained, firefighters will remain deployed for the next couple of days to prevent any potential flare-ups. Residents are still prevented from returning home, notably due to uninspected potential damages. 

Climate Change

Scientists have long cautioned that the Mediterranean’s soaring hot and dry summers place the region at high risk of severe wildfires.

French Prime Minister François Bayrou directly attributed the fire to global warming and drought. The country has seen an increase in areas burnt in recent years due to its abundant dry vegetation and strong winds that can cause fires to spread quickly and spiral out of control. This is aggravated by the uprooting of vineyards in the area, which used to help inhibit the quick spread of wildfires.

“With climate change, the risk of wildfires is expected to increase during the summer, but also to extend into the autumn and spring, and to spread toward the southwest, center, and the north of France,” Serge Zaka, a climate and agriculture analyst, told Reuters.

Globally, climate change has increased the wildfire season by roughly two weeks on average, mostly by enhancing the availability of fuel through heat and dry conditions.