Hello and welcome to the details of Water-bombing aircraft deployed as wildfire rips through southern France, hundreds flee and now with the details
Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - The fire swept through wooded hills in the Var region, burning 1,700 hectares in just a few hours and prompting the evacuation of nearly 400 people, the area’s top official said. — AFP pic
COTIGNAC (France), July 22 —A fast-moving wildfire erupted yesterday in southern France, forcing hundreds from their homes as nearly 1,000 firefighters and water-bombing aircraft battled to stop the blaze.
The fire swept through wooded hills in the Var region, burning 1,700 hectares in just a few hours and prompting the evacuation of nearly 400 people, the area’s top official said.
“The fire is moving down Gros Bessillon mountain at a very fast speed, which was not at all anticipated given the climatic conditions and weakening wind,” said Simon Barbre, prefect for the region located between Marseille and Nice.
He said evacuations took place around the villages of Cotignac, Montfort-sur-Argens and Correns. Many of those moved to safety came from Ponteves, where the fire started, and the nearby village of Sillans-la-Cascade.
More than 2,300 homes were without power, the prefecture said overnight Tuesday to Wednesday.
Very dry conditions in the area have caused an extreme forest-fire risk, according to the French weather service Meteo-France.
Barbre said air crews were racing to lay down fire-retardant barriers ahead of the advancing flames.
An AFP journalist near Cotignac saw a huge plume of grey smoke billowing behind a ridge engulfed in flames.
“This fire is the absolute priority of the whole area right now,” said Var fire chief Eric Grohin, adding that between 900 and 950 firefighters were deployed on the ground.
‘Major disaster’
“It’s grown enormously, it’s spreading to other villages,” said Isabelle Scarica, one of around 50 volunteers in Ponteves preparing sandwiches for firefighters.
She said the situation was “a major disaster”.
One fire engine was damaged and four firefighters and two residents of Ponteves suffered minor smoke inhalation, according to local authorities.
Before aircraft were grounded for the night, firefighting crews carried out more than 100 water and retardant drops using eight Canadair water bombers, four-water-dropping helicopters and two Dash aircraft.
Fuelled by repeated heatwaves and drought, the 2026 wildfire season began earlier than usual, and firefighters have been battling near-daily outbreaks across France in recent weeks.
Another major blaze burned 200 hectares and destroyed homes in the Var region between Sunday and Monday near Les Arcs-sur-Argens.
Nearly 40,000 hectares have burned in France since the start of the year, “far more than was burned during the whole of last year”, according to Interior Minister Laurent Nunez.
Wildfires were also active elsewhere in France.
In the Alps, a lightning-sparked blaze that began five days ago had burned 130 hectares in a remote area of the Ecrins mountain range.
On the Mediterranean island of Corsica, firefighters were still battling a blaze near Corte after nine days. — AFP
These were the details of the news Water-bombing aircraft deployed as wildfire rips through southern France, hundreds flee for this day. We hope that we have succeeded by giving you the full details and information. To follow all our news, you can subscribe to the alerts system or to one of our different systems to provide you with all that is new.
It is also worth noting that the original news has been published and is available at Malay Mail and the editorial team at AlKhaleej Today has confirmed it and it has been modified, and it may have been completely transferred or quoted from it and you can read and follow this news from its main source.
