Flames rise in the Fontainebleau Forest after a forest fire broke out late afternoon on Jul 12, 2026. (Photo: AFP/Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt)
13 Jul 2026 04:17PM
(Updated: 13 Jul 2026 04:23PM)
LA VAUDOUE, France: Firefighting aircraft battled to contain a wildfire raging in a forest south of Paris for a second day on Monday (Jul 13), with the blaze forcing some residents from their homes as the region baked in the latest heatwave.The fire erupted late afternoon in the sprawling Fontainebleau forest about 60km southeast of the capital, a onetime royal hunting preserve that today is dotted with quiet villages, and quickly spread.The rare forest fire in the north of the country had raced across 800 hectares - an area larger than Gibraltar - by early Monday, disturbing rail and highway traffic on a busy holiday travel weekend."I have never seen this before in three decades", Didier Buguinet, a deputy mayor in Le Vaudoue, said of the flames raging on the edge of the village of some 750 inhabitants."We're going to weep for our forest," he said.
Fire brigade vehicles approach flames rising at the Fontainebleau Forest in Noisy-sur-Ecole, after a forest fire broke out late afternoon on Jul 12, 2026. (Photo: AFP/Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt)
