Wildfire that reached Marseilles pushed back but not extinguished
Spurred on by hot summer winds, the fire grounded all flights to and from Marseille and halted train traffic in most of the surrounding area on Tuesday. Train, road and plane traffic remained complicated on Wednesday.
A cruise ship seen through the smoke in the port of Marseille (Lewis Joly/AP)
The mayor said 110 people had been treated for smoke inhalation and related injuries.
More than 1,000 firefighters were deployed to tackle the fire, which broke out near the town of Les Pennes-Mirabeau before racing towards Marseille. Some 720 hectares were hit by the blaze, the local authority said.
It described the fire as 'particularly virulent'. It came on a cloudless, windy day after a lengthy heat wave around Europe left the area parched and at heightened risk for wildfires.
Several wildfires have broken out in southern France in recent days, including one in the Aude region that has burned some 2,000 hectares and continued to rage on Wednesday.
Light grey smoke gave the sky over Marseille's old port a dusty aspect as water-dropping planes attempted to extinguish the fire on the outskirts of the city, which has some 900,000 inhabitants.
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He said: 'We're seeing volatile weather becoming more frequent—everything from massive snowfalls and powerful wind storms to extreme heat and intense downpours. 'I have predicted that we'll likely break Scotland's current record high of 34.8C, set in 2022, within the next five years. 'While it still seems very unlikely that we'll reach the 40s as seen in parts of England—at least within our lifetimes—one thing I've quickly come to realise is that, with weather like this, you can never say never. 'The pace of change has been staggering - even surprising meteorologists at just how rapidly records are falling.'
