Several wild fires broke out in various parts of southern France on Wednesday, causing a major firefighting operation in which four firemen were injured, three of them seriously, the interior ministry said in a statement.
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The most unsafe fire was burning around Fos-Sur-Mer, 25 miles northwest of Marseille, which is home to a large vast industrial zone where oil and petrochemicals are stocked.
Fires that raged through countryside near Marseille left a trail of destruction but were no longer threatening the southern French city on Thursday, firefighters said.
Forest fires raged through parts of France’s Mediterranean coast on Thursday, with the worst in nearly two decades burning around Marseille, injuring seven people and forcing authorities to evacuate thousands from their homes.
Forest fires in the Portuguese holiday island of Madeira meanwhile claimed three lives and forced around 1,000 people to flee their homes.
Homes were destroyed in the town of Vitrolles and the nearby festival commune of Pennes-Mirabeau, about 20 miles north of Marseilles.
Flights have resumed from the Marseille airport following a massive wildfire that struck the region Wednesday, Bloomberg reports.
Wildfires in Madeira’s picturesque capital Funchal, which had turned the sky orange and forced foreign holidaymakers to be evacuated, were brought under control overnight. He said the city was setting up firewalls on the corridor leading toward it, but if the fire passes those “it will move toward the northern neighborhoods of Marseille”.
Deputy Mayor Julian Ruas told I-Télé TV that the fire could reach the outskirts of Marseille in the next few hours.
The Marseille airport rerouted incoming flights to make way for firefighting aircraft, while officials in Marseille, France’s second-largest city, were bracing for flames that risked lapping at its doors, and the airport warned flights risk delays or cancellations Thursday.
About 400 police officers were also being mobilised, he said.
The origins of the French fires, which started in Rognac, north of Vitrolles, remain unknown.
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At the port of Fos-sur-Mer, northwest of Marseille, 800 hectares (2,000 acres) went up in flames on Wednesday, local official Jean Rampon told AFP.
