Wildfires see 10,000 more evacuated overnight

The new fire near Bormes-les-Mimosas also injured four firefighters; one of whom was taken to a hospital in Marseille.

Speaking to French newspaper Le Monde, a firefighter explained: “The [new] fire started around midnight. The evacuations, which included at least 10 000 people, followed the course of the fire [as] it’s a highly-populated area, which doubles or triples its population during the summer.”

Another fire in the Gard region was said to be threatening houses in Nimes, with inhabitants taken to a nearby gymnasium for shelter, but the fire was described today as “stable”.

Apart from two severely injured firefighters reported by the Interior Minister (ministre de l’intérieur) Gérard Collomb, no casualties or deaths have been reported across the region.

Last night was the third in the current wildfire disaster spreading across the region and the island, which have been worsened by recent hot weather, and a Mistral wind of up to 90 km/h, which is expected to last until Thursday.

Although one man in Corsica has been arrested for allegedly starting one fire deliberately, most of the other incidents are said to have been started by lightning and spread due to drought-like conditions.

The worst of the fires are said to have been contained, except the blaze in Artigues, which last night was still said to be within distance of endangering houses.

Emergency services have been using 19 water planes to help put out the fires, and while France has a good supply of planes, the minister Collomb announced that eight more were on their way from across the country, plus another borrowed from Italy, and two more requested from Canadair.

So far, estimates suggest 1 800 hectares of land have been burned in Haute-Corse, along with 865 in the south of Vaucluse near Mirabeau, 1 350 in the Var, of which 500 were burned in la Croix-Valmer near Saint-Tropez, and 850 at Artigues.