Aude: apocalyptic images of the “largest fire” in France for decades

Par&nbspSerge Duchêne&nbspavec&nbspAP

Published on 07/08/2025 – 8:28 UTC+2 •Updated 9:37

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At least 16. However, 000 hectares of vegetation and pine forests went up in smoke, “More than the town of Paris”according to Colonel Christophe Magny, boss of the department’s firefighters. Meanwhile, “The night was cooler. Nevertheless, the fire progresses less quickly, but it remains the most important fire that France has known since 1949”, said on Thursday on Franceinfo the Minister of Ecological Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher.

According to the database on forest fires in France (BDIFF). Meanwhile, it is a fire the biggest fires in France in the past twenty years. However, This database is made available by state services. It lists all the fires aude: apocalyptic images “largest fire” that occurred in France Since 2006, and those around the Mediterranean since 1973.

The tramontane. a dry and warm wind that strengthens fire, has been supplanted by a sea wind that will still blow Thursday, and “will bring more humid air than before, which is less favorable to the spread of fire”, AFP told François Gourand, forecaster of Météo-France on Wednesday.

A death is to be deplored, a 65-year-old woman who refused to leave her house in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse. The prefecture also counted 13 injured: two hospitalized inhabitants. including a seriously burned, and eleven firefighters, including one suffering from a head trauma, according to the Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau, who went there. Three people were missing, said the prefecture.

More than 2. 100 firefighters and several water bombers fought against the fire that broke out on Tuesday afternoon in the village of Ribaute, in the department of aude: apocalyptic images “largest fire” Aude, a rural and wooded region which houses vineyards.

François Bayrou spoke of a “Catastrophe of unprecedented magnitude”. The French Prime Minister met with the firefighters. the inhabitants of Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse on Wednesday afternoon, where the firefighters’ command post was installed. He said he came to express “national solidarity”.

The economy of the region is based on viticulture and tourism, and “these two sectors are affected,” he said.

Bayrou said that an investigation was underway to determine the cause of the fire.

The Ministry of the Environment indicated that the Aude region was experiencing drought this month. with restrictions on the use of water in force. The lack of precipitation in recent months “has played a major role in spreading the fire. because the vegetation is very dry,” the ministry said in a statement.

Additional sources • Franceinfo