The blaze has already swept through an area larger than Paris and burned down at least 25 houses, forcing residents and tourists to flee
French firefighters were battling on Wednesday to control the country’s biggest wildfire in almost 80 years, with the blaze in the southern Aude region having already swept through an area bigger than Paris.
One person died in the village of Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, about 30km from the city of Perpignan, the prefecture said. The fire, which spread very rapidly through forests and villages, has burned down at least 25 houses, forcing residents and tourists to flee. Many roads are closed.
“It’s a catastrophe of unprecedented scale,” Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said as he visited Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse.
So far, over 15,000 hectares have burned. That is similar to the total area that burned across all of France in several of the past years, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said. He added this was the biggest area burnt by one single fire in France since 1949.
