France’s largest wildfire in decades burns homes, forest near Toulouse

One person has died and 13 were injured as France reels from its largest wildfire in decades, French officials said. Thousands of firefighters continued battling the blaze for a third day Thursday, working to contain a fire in the south that had burned across nearly 40,000 acres.

The fire is a “catastrophe on an unprecedented scale,” French Prime Minister François Bayrou said in a video statement posted Thursday on X.

About 2,100 firefighters and 500 vehicles - including planes and helicopters - were deployed to fight the fire on Wednesday, said French officials in the Aude prefecture, where the fire broke out Tuesday. The Aude prefecture is in the far South of France, some 60 miles from the southern city of Toulouse, and 90 miles from Andorra and the Spanish border. The officials said that the fire was spreading but that it began slowing overnight.

On Thursday, officials from Aude announced on social media that the fire had been contained, though firefighters would remain mobilized to continue fighting the blaze and ensuring it did not spread. Officials said all forest areas would be closed, and cautioned people not to attempt to return to homes in the area.

Bayrou said the blaze was probably connected to global warming. He visited the region, where the fire has spread to 15 cities and towns.

Three people have been reported missing, officials said Wednesday. Of the 13 injured, 11 are firefighters. The person who died was identified in local media as a woman in her 60s from Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, a small village caught in the blaze.

Bayrou said the fires have affected people’s homes and livelihoods, particularly calling out how the burned landscape dramatically affects those who work in the region’s tourism and winemaking industry.

National authorities have set up 17 temporary centers to accommodate people evacuating, the European Commission said.

The region in southern France where the worst fires are occurring has suffered from moderate-to-severe droughts and above-average temperatures so far this summer. Other countries in Europe, including Scotland, Spain, Greece and Turkey, have had to deal with major wildfires amid record-setting high temperatures.

No rain is forecast for at least the next week - a setback for firefighting efforts - though no extreme surges in wind are expected, either. A heat wave, likely lasting much of next week, is expected to hit Europe starting this weekend in southern France. Multiple days of 100 degree temperatures will likely further dry the ground.

The wildfire in Aude is the largest one recorded since France began logging national fire data in 2006, according to local media. Beyond that time frame, French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said, the area affected by this week’s blaze so far was larger than that of any other single fire since 1949, Reuters reported.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said in a statement on the social platform X that the European Union was prepared to mobilize resources to help fight the fires.

The European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid agency said Tuesday that since the beginning of the year, 1,478 wildfires have started across Europe, burning 353,862 hectares.

In July, the World Meteorological Organization, an agency of the United Nations, warned that “about half of the European population may be exposed to high or very high risk of heat stress during summer” by 2050.