About 1200 firemen battled the blazes, backed up by firefighting aircraft, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told French newschannel BFM TV on Wednesday.
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That fire and another blaze in an industrial area outside Marseilles, which stocks oil and petrochemicals, were contained, but the other fires continue to pose a threat.
Thick, ochre-colored smoke could be seen from Marseille.
Transport by road and air was badly affected by the fire on Wednesday, with two motorways closed and some flights cancelled at Marseille airport.
The evacuations Wednesday represent nearly 15 percent of the population of Vitrolles, about 15 miles north of Marseille.
Three people have died, including a after a fire tore across the Portuguese island of Madeira.
Forest fires in Madeira forced the evacuation of more than 1,000 resid. One person was seriously injured in Rognac.
Flights have resumed from the Marseille airport following a massive wildfire that struck the region Wednesday, Bloomberg reports.
However, wildfires in Madeira’s picturesque capital Funchal that had turned the sky orange and forced foreign holidaymakers to be evacuated were brought under control overnight. He said firewalls had been set up on the corridor leading toward the city, but if the fire passed those “it will move toward the northern neighbourhoods of Marseille”.
Marseille deputy mayor Julien Ruas said the fire was “progressing fast”.
In Portugal, the out-of-control blazes have killed at least four people, burning down dozens of houses and sending people fleeing in panic, as well as charring huge areas of forest. About 400 policemen were also mobilised across the region, he said.
The fires have already destroyed some homes in the town of Vitrolles, 25km north of Marseille. “That means that it is not expanding any more there are no visible flames”, said Vice-Admiral Charles-Henri Garrier, commander of Marseille’s firefighter battalion, speaking near Vitrolles, just 25 kilometers (15 miles) north of Marseille.
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The head of Madeira’s regional government Miguel Albuquerque has said officials suspect that the fire on the island was started deliberately.
