Planes fight fire in Fontainebleau forest near Paris

ARBONNE-LA-FORET, France: France battled to contain an "exceptionally large wildfire" in a forest south of Paris on Monday (Jul 13), with aircraft in the skies and firefighters on the ground trying to douse the flames amid suspicions the blaze was started deliberately.

The fire erupted Sunday in the sprawling Fontainebleau forest, about 60km southeast of the capital, a former royal hunting preserve that today is dotted with quiet villages.

As the region sweltered through its latest heatwave, the wildfire - rare in the north of the country - quickly spread, disrupting rail and road traffic during a busy holiday travel weekend.

By early Monday, it had raced across 800 hectares - an area larger than Gibraltar - forcing some residents from their homes in the normally quiet, bucolic forest.

The air was almost unbreathable in the forest on Monday morning, as fire trucks drove in one after the other seeking to bring the blaze under control.

Wisps of smoke rose above the scorched vegetation and a warm wind carried ash near the village of Arbonne-la-Foret.

Clement Boher, a 37-year-old resident, said he and his family had been on alert since he saw plumes of smoke rise over the forest on Sunday night.

"Like everyone else, we're on standby, vehicles ready and a backpack packed. All we can do is wait," he said.

FARMERS HELP OUT

President Emmanuel Macron said on X that all available resources had been deployed to fight what he described as "an exceptionally large wildfire".

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said authorities were investigating whether the fire was started intentionally.

"There were about 10 fire ignition points within a perimeter of 1,000m, which suggests that it could have been deliberately set," he said.

France is weathering a third heatwave in less than three months, with fires raging in several parts of the country over the past week.

It is the latest such deadly episode of extreme weather, the increasing frequency of which in recent decades scientists have linked to man-made climate change.

On Sunday night, residents chipped in to help.

Farmers in tractors tugged water cisterns and aimed hoses at the blaze.

Cindy Fuyard, a 45-year-old nurse, said she fled her home in Le Vaudoue on Sunday night with her family before returning to open her gate so firefighters could access the water in her swimming pool.

"With global warming, it was to be expected that they would get closer" to Paris, she said, referring to forest fires.

Authorities rushed firefighting planes to help fight the flames, the first time such aircraft have been used in the Paris region.

Two Canadair planes joined the battle on Monday, scooping up water from the River Seine to douse the flames.

TRAINS RESUME

The fire closed the A6 motorway that leads out of Paris to the southeast and parts of the highway remained closed on Monday, according to Google Maps.

But the national railway service said it had repaired cables burnt by the fire on Sunday, allowing it to resume normal services for fast trains connecting the capital to the southeastern city of Lyon.

Sophie Guiot showed AFP a picture of a water-dumping plane flying over her home.

"My parents in the south of the country had been worrying about fires, but it's here that it happened," she said.

The country recorded more than 2,000 excess deaths during the June heatwave, and 300 during the high temperatures in late May, according to official figures.

Since the start of the year, wildfires have scorched some 25,000 hectares of land in France - an area nearly as big as Edinburgh and twice as much as during the same period last year, director general of civil security Julien Marion said on Friday.

Temperatures were expected to remain high through France's Bastille Day national holiday on Tuesday, according to the Meteo-France weather service.