French firefighters battle to contain blaze that killed elderly woman and tore through area bigger than Paris

A combination of hot temperatures, low humidity levels and gusty winds have spread the fast-moving flames.

(CNN) — Nearly 2,000 French firefighters are battling to contain a fast-moving blaze that has burnt through an area bigger than Paris and killed an elderly woman.

The fire has now burned through 16,000 hectares in the southern Aude region, but authorities say its advance has slowed significantly.

“The fire is progressing much more slowly than yesterday, and all the firefighters are actively engaged in trying to contain it,” Christian Pouget, the Aude prefect, told CNN affiliate BFMTV. “The fire’s perimeter stretches 90 kilometers (60 miles), so you can imagine the scale of resources needed to manage all of this.”

Officials say the massive mobilization, combined with calmer overnight weather — no wind and cooler temperatures — has helped slow the fire’s advance.

It is the country’s biggest of the year so far, local officials said Wednesday, who confirmed there has been one fatality.

“We mourn the death of an elderly woman in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, who apparently did not want to leave her home,” Remi Recio, a regional official, told CNN affiliate BFMTV.

The blaze, which broke out Tuesday afternoon near Ribaute in the Aude department, has also injured two civilians and seven firefighters, Recio added.

The minister for ecological transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, said on RTL radio Thursday that three people reported missing by their families had now been found.

“This is a catastrophe of unprecedented proportions,” said French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, who traveled to the Aude region on Wednesday afternoon along with Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau. Bayrou stressed at a press conference that the event is “linked to climate change and drought.”

More than 2,100 firefighters and 500 vehicles have been deployed to the scene, according to a press release from the Aude prefecture. The gendarmerie and army are also providing logistical support.

The Ministry of Ecological Transition said in a press release that the fire “illustrates the scale of the consequences of climate change” and it “alone represents the equivalent of all the hectares burned in 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2024, respectively, and double that in 2023.”

Twenty-five homes were affected, it said, and dozens of vehicles burned, adding that drought conditions were accelerating the fire’s spread.

A firefighter briefing Bayrou and Retailleau on Wednesday said that within one hour, the fire had burned more than 1,500 hectares — a speed never seen before in living memory. After that, the blaze consumed around 1,000 hectares every hour, the firefighter added.

Christophe Magny, head of the Aude region fire brigade, told BFMTV that extreme weather conditions combining low humidity (25%), wind at more than 30km/h and temperatures around 35 degree celsius, created ideal conditions for the fire to spread.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on X Wednesday morning that “the wildfire in Aude is progressing,” and “in this ordeal, everyone must exercise the utmost caution and follow the authorities’ instructions.”

Aerial operations resumed Wednesday morning with four Canadair water bombers, a heavy-lift helicopter capable of carrying four tons of water, and four DASH aircraft assisting ground crews.

This is “a disaster of unprecedented scale,” firefighter spokesman Eric Brocardi told RTL radio on Wednesday.

“The very provisional material toll indicates approximately thirty vehicles burned out and 25 homes affected by the flames. 2,500 homes are currently without power,” said the Aude prefecture in a press release Wednesday. “The fire remains very active and weather conditions will still be adverse on August 6.”

‘It’s a catastrophe’

Renate Koot, a Dutch tourist vacationing in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, fled the area with her partner, Reuters reported.

“One moment we were on the phone with our children … thinking, ‘Look, a fire!’. The next, we had to jump in the car and leave, while praying for protection. We didn’t take anything with us and just left,” she said. “We’re okay. Miraculously.”

“It’s unbelievable. It’s a catastrophe,” said Issa Medina, a Spanish national who was with her family in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse.

Officials and experts warned the wind could change direction which will complicate efforts to fight the wildfire.

The Mediterranean’s hot and dry summers make the region especially vulnerable to wildfires, scientists say. Once ignited, fires in the region can escalate quickly due to abundant dry vegetation and powerful winds, making them difficult to contain.

“With climate change, the risk of having wildfires is expected to increase during the summer, but also to extend into the autumn and spring, and to spread toward the southwest, the center, and the north of France,” said Serge Zaka, a climate and agriculture analyst told Reuters.

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.

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