A French fireman walks in the road as smoke fills the sky and blocks the sun as fires burn north of Marseille, France, August 10, 2016.
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Flight delays continued Thursday evening at Marseille’s airport which had rerouted incoming flights on Wednesday to cope with firefighting aircraft.
“The fire is progressing. It’s progressing fast”, Deputy Marseille Mayor Julien Ruas said on BFM-TV.
A firefighting helicopter drops its load of water on a forest fire near Santa Comba Dao, northern Portugal, Thursday, Aug. 11 2016.
People stand by emergency workers as a fire which has already devastated some 200 hectares approaches Vitrolles, southern France. Two arrests were made in the deadliest of more than 100 fires in Portugal, on the island of Madeira, that killed three people.
At the port of Fos-sur-Mer, northwest of Marseille, 800 hectares (2,000 acres) went up in flames yesterday, Rampon told AFP. “The fire is extremely powerful, fast, explosive, and continues burning everything in its path”.
Four firefighters were injured, three seriously, while they fought a blaze in the Herault region, according to Interior Minister Benard Cazeneuve.
Delta has issued a travel waiver for passengers whose flights to or from Marseille were affected by the fire.
Assistant Prefect Yves Rousset, asked at a pre-dawn meeting with reporters in Marseille, whether the fire might reach France’s second-largest city overnight, said, “We can never say there will be no risk, but we’re doing everything so it doesn’t”.
Hundreds of extra firefighters have been drafted in from elsewhere in France to tackle the blaze.
The largest fire was burning in the Rognac area, spreading southward to Vitrolles, Pennes-Mirabeau and Cabries.
“Everything burned, the house, the auto …”
“The police knocked on our doors and told us to leave and to turn off the gas”, said Annie, a resident of the village of Rodes who took shelter at the tourist information centre nearby. “My neighbors, it’s the same …”
Thick ochre-colored smoke could be seen from Marseille, while black plumes rose above Vitrolles and Pennes-Mirabeau.
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Although some fires have been contained, another blaze in a pine forest is spreading, Europe 1 said, adding that the situation is worsened by strong winds.
