A total of 59 people have been arrested across France over suspected deliberate or accidental arson, including two in connection with the wildfire still sweeping through the Fontainebleau forest southeast of Paris, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez has said.
The minister said on Monday evening that the arrests included 30 adults and 29 minors "with very different profiles". Seven suspects have been remanded in custody pending trial after admitting to deliberately setting fires.
Two of the 59 people were arrested in connection to the fast-moving wildfire in Fontainebleau forest – one of France's best-known woodlands, around 70 kilometres southeast of Paris that has so far scorched about 1,900 hectares.
Nuñez said a second fire broke out shortly before 3pm on Monday, around 5 kilometres away from the original blaze, and had already spread across about 100 hectares.
"The fire is not under control, it has not been contained," he said, adding that it may have been "intentionally set".
'Weep for our forest'
The Fontainebleau blaze has prompted France to deploy two firefighting Canadair planes from the south of the country to try and contain the fire – the first time such aircraft have been used in the greater Paris region.
Some 1,000 local residents have been evacuated from their homes as the region bakes in the third heatwave of the year.
"I have never seen this before" in three decades, Didier Buguinet, a deputy mayor in Le Vaudoue, said of the flames raging on the edge of the village of some 750 inhabitants.
"We're going to weep for our forest," he said.
According to official data, the Fontainebleau blaze has already become the third-largest wildfire recorded in the northern half of France since nationwide records began in 2006.
Figures from France's national forest fire database show that only two larger fires have been recorded in northern France during that period. Both occurred in 2022.
Since the start of the year, wildfires have scorched some 25,000 hectares of land in France – an area nearly as big as the Scottish city of Edinburgh – and twice as much as during the same period last year, director general of civil security Julien Marion said on Friday.
Rail services resume
Meanwhile, train services on France's south-eastern high-speed rail line returned to normal on Monday evening after three fires burning alongside the tracks were extinguished, infrastructure manager SNCF Réseau said.
The line, which includes the busy Paris–Lyon route, was severely disrupted earlier in the day after fires broke out near the town of Sens, causing lengthy delays. Firefighters have now left the area, SNCF Réseau said.
The succession of wildfires fuelled by the heatwave has put increasing pressure on France's rail network, threatening tracks and overhead power lines and causing widespread disruption during one of the country's busiest holiday travel periods.
A spokesperson for SNCF Réseau told French news agency AFP that 10 fires broke out close to railway lines across France on Monday.
(with newswires)
