Weekend winds could worsen blaze near French Riviera

LES MAYONS (France) • Firefighters battling France's worst wildfire of the summer fear changing winds over the weekend could make it harder to battle the blaze that has already lasted for four days and killed two people.

"We're expecting risky days" ahead, said fire commander Florent Dossetti of the Var department fire brigade.

But he added that there had been fewer flare-ups on Thursday compared with the day before, with firefighting planes and helicopters dumping water on new blazes to aid colleagues on the ground.

Around 1,200 firefighters and 250 fire engines worked through the night to tamp down the flames along an 80km front, Var prefecture said.

It added that the situation "remains very unstable" in parts of the affected area, with 7,100ha of forest already burnt.

Flames have ripped through the arid Plaine des Maures nature reserve towards the glitzy French Riviera resort of Saint-Tropez.

Firefighters on Thursday appealed for information about how the fire began, with current theories suggesting it started at a motorway rest stop on Monday.

Around 10,000 residents and holidaymakers have been evacuated from the area, with only a fraction able to return to campsites late on Wednesday, while others remained in emergency accommodation. The prefecture urged evacuees to "above all avoid returning to your home or the place you were holidaying".

Beyond the human impact, local producers of rose wine fear an economic blow from destroyed vines, while an operation to save protected local tortoises was under way in the Maures nature reserve.

The fire is the latest in the Mediterranean region that has also seen major blazes claim lives in Greece, Turkey, Italy and Algeria in recent weeks, with numerous officials blaming climate change.

The region has long faced seasonal wildfires linked to the dry and hot summer weather, but climate scientists warn they will become increasingly common because of man-made global warming.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE