PARIS (AP) — A fast-moving wildfire in a Mediterranean region of France near the Spanish border has left one person dead, several others injured and was still spreading Wednesday after damaging a swath of land as big as Paris overnight, authorities said.
About 1,800 firefighters were fighting the blaze, which broke out Tuesday afternoon in the village of Ribaute in the Aude region, a rural, wooded area that is also home to wineries. The wildfire remained ‘’very active’’ on Wednesday and weather conditions were unfavorable, the local administration said in a statement.
One person died in their home, nine others were injured, including seven firefighters, and at least one person was missing, the statement said.
It said the fire had spread over 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) of land, a surface area larger than the size of the French capital. That makes it the biggest wildfire in France so far this summer.
Residents and tourists were requested to remain in their homes unless told to evacuate by firefighters. Two campsites have been evacuated out of precaution.
French Prime Minister François Bayrou is expected on site on Wednesday afternoon, his office said.
Last month, a wildfire that reached the southern city port of Marseille, France’s second-largest city, left around 300 people injured.
Southern Europe has seen multiple large fires this summer. Scientists warn that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, making the region more vulnerable to wildfires.
Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing at twice the speed of the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
