A massive deployment of firefighters in southern France has been dispatched to battle several large forest fires
PARIS, Aug 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A massive deployment of firefighters has been dispatched to battle several large forest fires in southern France.
“All my support to the 650 firefighters who are mobilized to protect our public this night,” French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin tweeted.
A large fire is raging in the Var department and weather conditions are unfavourable, he said. A heatwave and a drought preceded the fires.
Some 430 firefighters were sent to a single fire in Gonfaron in the mountains near Saint Tropez. Firefighting aircraft were supporting them until nightfall, the civil defense authority said.
Broadcaster BFMTV reported the flames were fanned by strong winds and had already destroyed around 2,800 hectares.
Several rural roads were closed. The Marseille fire department earlier tweeted that around 100 firefighters and 40 vehicles had been sent to a fire on a mountain range outside the city.
As it is an uninhabited area, there was no immediate danger to the public. — NNN-AGENCIES
