Residents in northwestern Marseille are being urged to stay indoors and close windows and doors due to a wildfire that has been raging since Tuesday morning. The fire is under control, but local authorities remain alert.
Marseille Airport has been closed since Tuesday afternoon. Some flights have been diverted via Nice, Nîmes, or other regional airports. Train traffic has largely been suspended because there is a fire near the tracks. Several roads are closed.
According to news site France Bleu, the wildfire started Tuesday morning with a car fire north of Marseille, near the town of Les Pennes-Mirabeau. The fire then spread quickly towards Marseille.
The fire is under control but could still spread due to strong winds. “We are waiting to see what happens tonight,” says Mayor Benoît Payan. According to him, the weather makes the approach and development of the fire “extremely complex.” He compares it to a guerrilla war.
Local authorities report on X that approximately 720 firefighters, 230 fire trucks, and four water bombers are being deployed. No casualties have been reported. However, nine firefighters have been slightly injured. At least twenty buildings have been damaged, and 700 hectares have been destroyed.
Advice to Stay Indoors
Residents of Pennes-Mirabeau and a district in northwestern Marseille are advised to stay indoors. Authorities want to keep roads clear for emergency services. “Close shutters and doors, keep your property clear for emergency services, and do not travel by road,” writes Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur on X.
The wildfire is causing significant smoke clouds over Marseille. The fire can be smelled in the city center. A wildfire is also raging in southern Narbonne, which started on Monday in wooded area south of that location. The fire is not yet under control, but the lockdown measures that applied to certain districts have been lifted.
More than a thousand firefighters and several water bombers have been deployed to bring the fire under control there. The fire department will remain for several days, Le Monde quotes a local administrator. They will stay “to ensure that the fire is completely extinguished before the wind turns.” So far, 2,000 hectares have been burned.
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Enormous Clouds of Smoke from Large Forest Fires in Southern France and Spain
Eighteen Thousand People in Lockdown in Spain
In Spain, a large wildfire has been raging near the Catalan city of Tarragona, south of Barcelona, since Monday. That fire is also not yet under control. The authorities have imposed a lockdown in surrounding villages.
Approximately eighteen thousand people must stay indoors and keep their windows closed. Dozens of people have been evacuated, and more than 3,000 hectares have been destroyed. In addition to three hundred firefighters, the Spanish army has been deployed to combat the fire.
The risk of wildfires around the Mediterranean remains high in the coming days.
