More than 110 people have been injured after wildfires broke out in Marseille, France’s interior minister has said – as firefighters continue to tackle blazes.
Bruno Retailleau told reporters while visiting the affected area on Tuesday evening that the injuries were minor, but added the “fire is not yet fixed”. No fatalities have been reported.
Fires broke out on a highway near the town of Les Pennes-Mirabeau, north of Marseille, and as of 6pm (UK time), had burned around 720 hectares and damaged around 20 buildings.
While officials said the fire was considered to be under control, it was still burning into Tuesday night, and hot and windy conditions are forecast to continue through the week.
Marseille mayor Benoit Payan said that “as we speak, it’s a battle” to tackle the wildfire, likening it to “guerrilla warfare”.
“We’re waiting to see what happens overnight, because that’s critical too,” he said.
“Everything is strategic: wind speed, humidity, nightfall – every factor matters. Once again, it’s extremely complex, and the work is incredibly difficult.”
More than 1,000 firefighters were deployed to tackle the fire, and hundreds of homes were evacuated.
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The blaze also caused Marseille Provence Airport – France’s fourth busiest – to suspend flights and led the city’s Hospital Nord to switch to generators “due to micro power cuts”.
According to the regional air quality observatory AtmoSud, the concentration of certain particles was also “10 times higher than the regulatory daily threshold” due to the fire.
It comes as wildfires – which have become more destructive in the Mediterranean and southern European countries in recent years – were also raging in northeastern Spain.
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Last week, wildfires broke out in southern Crete, forcing more than 1,500 people to evacuate, amid an early summer heatwave in Europe.
Over the weekend, more blazes were reported near Athens in Greece, on the west coast of Turkey, and in northeastern Syria.
