Wildfires ripped through southern France on Thursday, scorching a combined area of 1,210 hectares of land as strong winds and tinder-dry conditions left by Europe’s recent heatwave fuelled rapidly spreading blazes.Hundreds of firefighters, supported by water-bomber aircraft and emergency vehicles, were deployed across the affected regions as authorities raced to contain the fires, Reuters reported.The biggest blaze was burning in the Aude administrative department near the Spanish border, where around 900 hectares were destroyed. Nearly 800 firefighters and 150 vehicles were deployed as high winds hampered firefighting operations, local authorities said.Additional fires broke out near Marseille, where firefighters brought two blazes under control but had not fully extinguished them. Another wildfire near Lancon-Provence spread across about 260 hectares, while a smaller blaze near Rognac, close to Marseille airport, was also being tackled. Authorities said there were no casualties.Aude Prefect Alain Bucquet said that two more Canadair water-bomber aircraft had been deployed to reinforce firefighting efforts.“The idea is to bring the fire under control quickly because temperatures are rising and the wind is growing stronger,” Bucquet told France Info.The latest fires come days after the World Meteorological Organization warned that the record-breaking heatwave across Western Europe that killed more than 1300 people, had significantly increased the risk of wildfires because of prolonged high temperatures, low humidity and dry vegetation. France’s weather office has also warned that another spell of extreme heat could hit the country next week.The Aude region is frequently affected by wildfires and was the site of France’s largest wildfire in decades last year. Further east, more than 2,000 people were evacuated from six campsites near the resort town of Fréjus on Wednesday as another forest fire threatened the area.
