The Fontainebleau forest, southeast of Paris, was engulfed last night by a fire of “exceptional proportions,” which required an unprecedented deployment of resources in the Ile-de-France region, where rail traffic was interrupted.
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A column of smoke rising from the forest was visible from 20 km away, while fire trucks headed to the fire site along small forest roads. They were joined by farmers who attached water tanks to the backs of their tractors. Despite emergency services’ appeals to stay indoors to avoid smoke exposure, residents came out onto their doorsteps to watch, stunned, the comings and goings of emergency vehicles and police amid the acrid smoke hanging over the area.
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Four hundred firefighters are working to tame the flames which, since breaking out along the highway on Sunday afternoon, have burned about 800 hectares by midnight, said commander Paul-Edouard Laurain, spokesperson for the Departmental Fire and Rescue Service (Sdis). French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez is expected on site this morning. Firefighters can no longer count on the support of the two firefighting helicopters and two planes sent from southern France, which had dropped fire retardant and had to suspend operations at nightfall. This is the first time such aircraft have been used in the Paris region.
The fire, described as “very intense” by emergency services, will require firefighters for “one or two weeks,” who will receive reinforcements from all over France, said Yannis Bouzar, deputy prefect of Fontainebleau, during a press conference. “The goal is to save human lives and material goods,” said Lieutenant Colonel Eric Brocardi, spokesperson for the National Federation of Firefighters of France.
