Arson suspected as fresh wildfires rage in France

BORDEAUX • French officials warned yesterday that flare-ups could cause a huge wildfire to spread further in the country's parched south-west, where fresh blazes have blackened swathes of land this week.

The wildfire first erupted in July - the driest month seen in France since 1961 - destroying 14,000ha and forcing thousands of people to evacuate before it was contained.

But it continued to smoulder in the tinder-dry pine forests and peat-rich soil, and officials suspect that arson may have played a role in the latest flare-up, which has burned 6,800ha since Tuesday.

During a visit to Gironde yesterday, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said she suspected arson may be involved but stressed that an investigation will be held.

French President Emmanuel Macron said European Union countries will join his government's efforts to fight wildfires that have been raging for days.

Germany, Greece, Poland, Romania and Austria will participate in efforts that have already mobilised 10,000 French firefighters and other civilian forces, Mr Macron tweeted yesterday.

He thanked them for coming to help France and praised "European solidarity". Poland alone will send 146 firefighters and 49 vehicles, the French presidency said in a separate message.

The European Commission said it will be sending four planes from its firefighting fleet from Greece and Sweden after France activated a common mechanism to fight forest fires.

The government warned that the drought could get worse in the next two weeks and activated an interministerial task force to tackle the situation.

The heatwave, which follows a hot, dry spring, has led the government to enforce water restrictions in 93 out of the 96 administrative regions, known as departments.

Water-saving measures include a ban on irrigation for farmland.

Further north, above the Loire River, a wildfire has burned through more than 1,200ha in the Pugle forest, according to the local authorities.

Firefighters were also battling a blaze in the Aveyron region of southern France.

Ms Borne said the resources mobilised against the wildfires are unprecedented and insisted the government will revamp its long-term strategy to tackle fires.

Currently eight major wildfires are raging in France.

"You'd think we're in California, (the blaze is) gigantic... we're being overwhelmed on all sides - nobody could have expected this," Mr Remy Lahay, a firefighter deployed near Hostens in the Landes de Gascogne natural park, told Agence France-Presse.

Outside several nearby houses, people hung out white sheets saying "Thank you for saving our homes" and other messages of support for the fire battalions.

Acrid smoke has spread across much of the southwestern Atlantic coast and its beaches that draw huge crowds of tourists each summer, with the regional ARS health agency strongly urging people to wear protective face masks.

"We battled all night to stop the fire from spreading, notably to defend the village of Belin-Beliet," Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Mendousse of the Gironde fire and rescue service told journalists in nearby Hostens.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, BLOOMBERG