France wildfire shuts down Marseille airport, halts trains

MARSEILLE, France - A wildfire in southern France on July 8 forced Marseille airport to close and interrupted train traffic as the blaze spread rapidly to the edges of the southern French city.

Several forest fires have raged in recent days in southern France, fanning out at speed due to wind and parched vegetation after a heatwave.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, during a visit on the evening of July 8 to firefighters in the region, said the fire could be contained overnight if winds weaken, as expected.

Scientists say human-induced climate change is increasing the intensity, length and frequency of the extreme heat that causes some forest fires.

The fire started in a vehicle in the area of Pennes-Mirabeau to the north of Marseille, on the road to its airport, roaring across 350 hectares by the afternoon, firefighters said.

It sent plumes of acrid smoke billowing into the sky, causing the airport to close its runways shortly after midday and cancel at least 10 flights, a spokesman for the Marseille Provence airport said.

The spokesman later said that the airport would partially reopen at around 9.30 pm and that 54 flights had been cancelled and another 14 redirected.

The air hub’s website showed departures – including to Brussels, Munich and Naples – had been called off.

In rail travel, the website of the SNCF national operator showed more than a dozen train trips had been cancelled in and out of the city.

It said rail travel to and from Marseille would remain “highly affected” on July 9.

Mr Retailleau said 400 people have been evacuated and 63 houses damaged, with some dozen destroyed. He said about 100 people have suffered light injuries, including from emergency services.

“At the moment that I speak to you there are no deaths, which is remarkable given the extent of the fires,” he said. “But there are all the reasons to think we are headed towards a summer of high risk.”

Marseille mayor Benoit Payan on X warned residents that the fire was now “at the doors of Marseille”, urging inhabitants in the north of the city to refrain from taking to the roads to leave way for rescue services.

The mayor of Pennes-Mirabeau said two housing estates had been evacuated and firefighters had positioned themselves outside an old people’s home to fight off approaching flames.

The Marseille Provence airport is the country’s fourth after Charles-de-Gaulle and Orly outside Paris, and Nice.

‘Never seen anything like it’

The fire near Marseille is just the latest to have hit France in recent days.

To the west along the Mediterranean coast, near the city of Narbonne, more than 1,000 firefighters from around the country were seeking to contain another blaze.

It had crept across 2,000 hectares of trees since starting on the property of a winery on the afternoon of July 7, they said.

In the village of Prat-de-Cest on the morning of July 8, trees were blackened or still on fire.

As she watched fire trucks drive to and fro, retiree Martine Bou, who did not give her age, recounted fleeing her home with her cats, tortoises and dog on the afternoon of July 7 before returning.

But her husband Frederic stayed all night to hose down the great pines on the other side of the road so the fire would not engulf their home.

“I’ve never seen anything like it. I have never lived next to such an enormous fire,” he told AFP, reporting flames dozens of metres (more than a hundred feet) high.

The fire near Narbonne caused authorities to close the A9 autoroute to Spain, but on the morning of July 8 they said they were progressively reopening it to traffic. AFP