A wildfire has burned through 2,000 hectares of vegetation near the southern French city of Narbonne, leading to the closure of the A9 highway, linking France and Spain. It is the third wildfire in the department since last week’s heatwave, marking the start of what could become a record fire season.
The fire, which started on Monday afternoon, continued to burn Tuesday, Christophe Magny, director of the Aude fire department, told BFM TV, with over 1,000 firefighters from all over the country working to put it out.
Dash and Canadair aircraft resumed their rotations at dawn, to try to put out flames that Magny says are moving towards the south of Narbonne.
A number of neighbourhoods are under containment orders, as well as the cities around, the prefecture said in a statement issued on Tuesday morning.
The A9 highway, which links France to Spain along the Mediterranean coast, was closed in both directions at the intersection with the A61, and rest areas nearby were evacuated.
An investigation has been opened into the cause of the fire, which ignited vegetation dried out by last week’s high temperatures and was fanned by wind gusts of up to 90 km/h on Monday.
The department fought two other fires during the heatwave last week, which burned over 800 hectares.
Along with fires in the Herault and Bouches-du-Rhone departments, these were the first major fires of the season, which the Météo France weather service has said remains at high risk, as similar weather conditions continue.
(with AFP)
