Fire in France's Hérault "under control" but on red alert for further outbreaks
"200 firefighters are on site to deal with critical areas and edges," he added, specifying that "firefighters will remain on watch all day."
Despite the lifting of the orange heatwave alert, part of Hérault and the entire Bouches-du-Rhône department were placed on red alert for forest fires on Sunday.
The Var and Aude departments would also be on red alert from Monday, with access to forest areas prohibited.
Large fires broke out Saturday in the departments of Hérault, Bouches-du-Rhône, and Aude, where an orange heatwave alert (
vigilance orange
), which has been in effect since June 27, was lifted Sunday morning by French weather service Météo-France.
In Hérault, the fire that started early Saturday afternoon in the Gardiole massif, located between Montpellier and Sète, closed the A9 motorway for five hours, causing major traffic jams in the middle of a busy holiday weekend.
Traffic jams reached up to 10 kilometres in each direction on the motorway, with water being distributed to the numerous motorists stranded under the blazing sun.
READ ALSO:
PODCAST: From strikes to extreme heat - what to expect in France this summer
Further east, in Bouches-du-Rhône, a fire on the tourist-heavy Côte Bleue, about fifteen kilometres northwest of Marseille, was "contained" Saturday morning after spreading across about a hundred hectares of forest.
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In Mireval, near the southern city of Montpellier, a blaze fanned by swirling winds led firefighters to evacuate about 10 people.
"It was very frightening, especially between 4:00 pm (1400 GMT) and 6:30 pm. The air was unbearable to breathe, there was a lot of smoke in the village, you couldn't see anything anymore and large ashes were falling from the sky," said 46-year-old resident Lorette Gargaud.
In the Aude department, a week after the first major fire there, a new blaze, sparked by a car fire on the A61 motorway, had swept through 400 hectares of vegetation by the end of the day. Three hundred firefighters and significant aerial resources were deployed to help extinguish the fire.
READ ALSO:
How hot will it get in France this summer
Meteo-France said on Saturday the punishing heatwave that began on June 19 had officially ended on Friday, lasting in all 16 days – the same length as the country's deadly 2003 heatwave.
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