Fire in the hills in the south of France near Narbonne
Parz and Abdul Saboor
The progression of fire in the Aude lost in intensity on Thursday but the forest fire, the largest observed in France for almost eight decades, was still not fixed after two days to fight against the flames.
“The increase in fire slows down,” said the Aude prefecture in a situation point at 12:00 p.m. (10:00 am GMT). The fire, which started on Tuesday afternoon in the town of Ribaute, burned 16,000 hectares and affected 15 municipalities.
“It is always asked of the populations of the municipalities concerned to remain confined to the interior of their dwellings, unless order of evacuation given by the firefighters,” said the prefecture.
One person died while the other three missing ranges were found by their loved ones, she adds.
Two civilian people and 11 firefighters were injured.
The material assessment is “36 homes burned or impacted and around forty calcined vehicles,” added the prefecture.
More than 2,000 firefighters and 500 vehicles are deployed on site alongside the staff of the gendarmerie and the army. Largage air operations continue and should reach 600 during the day.
The firefighters intend to “use all [les] Means used to try to set fire during the day, “said Colonel Christophe Magny, corps chief of the Aude firefighters on BFM TV and” before a worsening of weather conditions, including wind lifting “.
“The night was cooler, the fire progresses less quickly but it remains the most important fire that France has known since 1949,” said the Minister of Ecological Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, on Franceinfo.
“It is a fire which is a consequence of climate change, drought in this region and the climate situation of our country,” she added.
(Written by Zhifan Liu and Blandine Hénault, edited by Kate Entringer)
