Some three thousand holidaymakers were evacuated from a campsite in Canet-en-Roussillon, in the south of France, overnight Sunday due to a fire that was later brought under control. Firefighters were still tackling two other blazes in the southern Hérault area on Monday.
According to a statement from the emergency services, the fire in Canet-en-Roussillon, in the Pyrénées-Orientales broke out on Monday around 2:00 am local time and was fanned by winds blowing at 80 km/h.
It destroyed one mobile home. "Five others were partially affected, as well as a caravan," the statement noted.
During the rescue and evacuation operations, "seven people were slightly injured: four civilians, two firefighters, and one police officer," according to the same source.
The tourists were accommodated in a municipal building, but "by 7:00am, about 2,500 campers had returned to their accommodation".
Elsewhere, a fire that started on Sunday afternoon in Frontignan – near Montpellier – was brought under control by firefighters during the night after ravaging around 350 hectares of pine forest without causing any injuries.
"The fire has been under control for two and a half hours, and we are still working on it," Lieutenant Colonel Jérôme Bonnafoux, spokesperson for the Hérault firefighters, told French press agency AFP on Monday shortly after dawn.
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"We're still working on it because there are several hot spots where the risk of it flaring are high," he added.
600 firefighters on duty
Of the 600 firefighters deployed on Sunday, "300 to 350 are still mobilized and will remain so throughout the day," Bonnafoux stated.
Firefighters emptied the swimming pools of private homeowners to tackle the blaze, the mayor's cabinet director added.
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin visited the area on Monday morning and hailed the work done by the authorities.
"There haven't been many forest fires since the start of the season, around 4,000 hectares burned, whereas last year, at the same date, we'd lost some 12,000 hectares," Darmanin said, adding that "nine out of ten fires are of human origin".
On Sunday, four Dash planes, two Beechcraft planes, five Canadair planes, a Dragon helicopter, and a water-bomber helicopter carried out over 150 drops in the area, according to authorities.
An aerial survey on Monday is expected help to clarify the scope of the affected area and determine if aircraft need to be deployed again.
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On Sunday evening, a further 220 firefighters from the Hérault area responded to a fire that burned 60 hectares of pine forest in Nissan-les-Ensérunes, near Béziers.
The fire was still burning as of Monday, authorities warned on social media, noting that two Morane helicopters and a Dash plane would be deployed.
Seven forest areas in southern France remain closed to the public on Monday due to the fire hazard: Alpilles massifs, Chambremont, Castillon, Montagnette, Rougadou, Sulauze and the industrial-port area of Fos-sur-Mer.
(With newswires)
