by Marseille (Reuters) -a forest fire that lost the northwest of France’s second city of Marseille overnight, but on Wednesday the firefighters still fought against the flames.
Residents who were instructed on Tuesday that they should stay in their houses for their own safety.
“Since the fire in Nord -Marseille is now clearly under control, we can announce this morning that the 16th arrondissement is no longer in the Lockdown,” said Marseille Mayor Benoit Payan in a contribution on the social media platform X.
“I ask all residents of Marseille to make extremely caution in the area because the emergency services work hard,” he said.
Martine Vasall, head of the Area Council, said the firefighters had worked through the night to control the fire, which said that she had remained a worry.
“It is not yet finished. The weather conditions are worrying for us,” Vasall told BFM.
According to local officers, the airport said for the second largest city of France for trading flights to prioritize air resources when the fire flared up again.
It was too early for the hundreds of residents who had fled the running fire to return, officers said.
Hundreds of firefighters, supported by helicopters and planes, fought against the flames that were divided from a winch of up to 70 km / h (43 miles per hour) that brought smoke clouds over the southern coastal city. Officials said the fire was caused by a car that was caught.
The fire had burned 700 hectares (2.7 square miles), but no deaths were reported, said regional prefects Georges-Francois Leclerc on Tuesday.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau told the reporters late Tuesday that the fire moved quickly, affected 60 houses and burned down 10.
The fire in Marseille and a separate near Narbonne, another southern French city, were the first major fires of the summer, said Sophie Primas, the spokesman for the government, in an interview with RTL on Wednesday and added that the Wildfire season came at the beginning of this year.
Climate change has made forest fires more destructive in the Mediterranean countries in recent years.
This week and last week, fires in northeastern Spain, on the Greek island of Crete and in Athens.
Philippe, a victim of the fires whose last name was not given, said BFM that he slept badly after the evacuation and hoped to return to his house on Wednesday at 12 p.m.
“We can’t do anything,” he said. “It is very, very, very difficult.”
(Reporting by Makini Brice, Sudip Kar-Gupta, Marc Leras, Richard Lough and Diana Mandia Alvarez; Editor of Kate Mayberry and Tom Hogue)
