One person has died and several firefighters have been injured after a wildfire tore through 11,000 hectares of forest between Lagrasse and Ribaute in southern France.
The victim, described as an elderly woman, was found dead in her house in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse as more than 1,500 firefighters battled the blaze that broke out on Tuesday afternoon.
Seven aircraft dropped thousands of tonnes of water to stop the fire reaching homes in the villages of Lagrasse, Fabrezan and Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse.
Water drops resumed on Wednesday morning. More than 300 firefighters from nearby regions were due to arrive as reinforcements.
Several roads were closed to allow emergency crews to get through faster, said Aude police on Tuesday night.
Early on Wednesday, the A9 motorway – a major route between France and Spain – was shut in both directions between Narbonne and Perpignan because of thick smoke on the road.
Maud Bonnel from VINCI Autoroutes told Radio VINCI Autoroutes: "The Lézignan exit on the A61 is closed because the departmental road that continues from there leads to the fire.
"We are awaiting instructions from the fire brigade, but the fire has not been contained."
Holidaymakers at the Lagrasse and Fabrezan campsites were evacuated as a precautionary measure, along with around 30 houses in the village of Tournissan.
'Conditions right for fire'
"The fire was spreading in an area where all the conditions are right for it to spread. This fire will keep us busy for several days," Lucie Roesch, secretary general of the Aude prefecture, told BFMTV.
Since the beginning of summer, several fires have broken out in the Aude department, which has been affected by drought and high temperatures.
One at the start of July, the largest in the department since 1986, burned through 2,000 hectares and mobilised nearly 1,000 firefighters near Narbonne.
"We've gone from losing an average of 300 to 400 hectares per year in the early 2000s to nearly 1,000 hectares today," Jean-Paul Baylac, head of forest fires at the Aude departmental fire and rescue service, told the French news agency AFP.
On Tuesday night, President Emmanuel Macron took to social media to call for calm.
"All the nation's resources are being mobilised," he said."
(with newswires)
