Wildfire on Edge of Marseille Injures More Than 100, Officials Say
The blaze was ignited by a car fire in Les Pennes-Mirabeau, a small community about eight miles north of Marseille. Whipped by powerful, erratic winds, the wildfire had spread to about 1,700 acres by late Tuesday, forcing the authorities to temporarily halt flights, suspend trains and close some roads.
France's interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, flew to Marseille Tuesday night where he gave a news conference with the mayor and other officials. Mr. Retailleau said that at least 110 people had been injured, including at least 30 firefighters, as well as local and national police. He said it was 'exceptional' that there were no deaths, given the intensity of the fire.
Mr. Retailleau said that firefighters would be battling the blaze all night. More than 600 volunteer and professional firefighters were involved, aided by 15 firefighting planes and helicopters, he said. At least 400 people had been ordered to evacuate and 14,000 were told to stay home, he said.
The Marseille-Provence Airport suspended flights on Tuesday because of the fire. It is one of France's busiest airports, serving more than 11 million passengers last year. The airport said Tuesday evening that it would reopen at 9:30 p.m., but officials warned that flights could still be affected.
The fire erupted after a dayslong heat wave parched parts of Western Europe, turning woodlands into tinderboxes. The French weather agency had warned that there was also a high risk of forest fires elsewhere in the country, given the windy conditions.
See temperatures as...
Sources: University of Maine Climate Change Institute and the National Centers for Environmental Prediction Global Forecast System
Note: Forecasts are for 8 p.m. Eastern on July 7, 2025, to 8 p.m. on July 8, 2025.
By Lazaro Gamio and Zach Levitt
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBS News
6 hours ago
- CBS News
2 structures involved in Lake Fire near Clearlake
Firefighters are battling a wildfire involving two structures in the Clearlake area Sunday afternoon, Cal Fire said. Firefighters responded to Eastlake Drive just after 2:15 p.m., where they found a fire with at least two structures involved. As of about 3 p.m., firefighters said the fire has burned 10-15 acres and there was "a significant augmentation of resources dispatched to the fire." Crews are calling it the Lake Fire.
CBS News
6 hours ago
- CBS News
Gov. Polis declares disaster emergency for wildfire burning in northwest Colorado
Gov. Jared Polis verbally declared a disaster emergency Sunday for a wildfire burning in northwest Colorado. The Elk Fire began around 12:30 p.m. yesterday in Rio Blanco County and has burned around 600 acres to the southeast of Meeker. The Rio Blanco County Sheriff's Office said the wildfire is actively burning across land belonging to the Colorado Division of Wildland, the Bureau of Land Management and private owners, fueled by pinyon, juniper and oak brush in the area. They added that no structures are currently at risk. Authorities said the smoke from the wildfire can be seen from Meeker, and the hot and dry conditions are contributing to active fire behavior. The sheriff's office requested that residents and travelers avoid the area while emergency personnel are working to contain the fire. Due to the rugged terrain in the area, Hotshot crews are being dropped into the fire zone to assist ground crews with suppression efforts. Today's declaration provides additional resources and state support to help in fire suppression efforts. A statement from the governor's office said: "Fire conditions in northwest Colorado are at near record levels, and elevated fire weather and fire risk is forecast for the coming week. With the disaster declaration, the State Emergency Operations and Resource Mobilization Plans are activated and the Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (DHSEM) coordinates the state response through management of the State Emergency Operations Center and deployment of field operations staff to directly support county emergency managers with consequence management. The Division of Fire Prevention and Control (DFPC) is leading the incident management and suppression efforts in conjunction with the other CDPS Divisions."
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Wildfire, smoke forces evacuation of Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation
Wildfires in northern Manitoba are forcing thousands of residents from a First Nation out of their homes over poor air quality and concerns that flames might engulf the only road access to the community. Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation (NCN) was put under a mandatory full evacuation order on Saturday. Deputy Chief Marcel Moody told CBC News roughly 300 priority residents — including seniors, children and people with underlying health conditions — have so far left Nisichawayasihk for Winnipeg. "I've never seen anything like this in my entire life," Moody said. "The smoke situation has been terrible all summer … it gets worse at certain times, and we are scared the road might be closed." By Sunday morning, more than 3,000 residents were still in Nisichawayasihk. The expectation is most of the residents waiting to be evacuated will be out in the coming days. "We want to do this as quickly as possible to make sure that nobody is stuck," Moody said. "It's a tough task, but we have to do it." One of the closest wildfires is burning about half an hour away from the Nisichawayasihk, Moody said, and there are fears wind might fan the flames toward the road that connects the community with Thompson, about an hour's drive away, and engulf Highway 391, the only land access point in or out. Closure of the road because of the wildfire has already slowed down the evacuation, Moody said. Bus routes out of Nisichawayashik were ground to a halt between 10 a.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. on Sunday after the road was closed because of the threat of the wildfire. "It's a concern for the community and for our people," the deputy chief said. Highway 391 remains closed to passenger traffic and is only open for emergency vehicles and evacuees, the province said in a news release at around 12:30 p.m. Sunday. The latest data from Manitoba's wildfire services map shows at least two wildfires burning north of Nisichawayasihk— also known as Nelson House — including one that has grown to over 46,000 hectares by Saturday. According to the province's latest fire bulletin, issued Wednesday, the Manitoba Wildfire Service was responding to 127 active wildfires across the province, which has seen a total of 351 wildfires to date, well above the average for this time of year of 276. 'A terrible summer' For about 600 residents in Nisichawayasihk, this is their second evacuation in less than a month. The Cree Nation declared a state of emergency in July due to heavy smoke billowing from wildfires and polluting the air. Hundreds of vulnerable residents, including dozens living in a personal care home, were evacuated from the community. But most of the 600 evacuees had already returned home by last week and now they are being forced out of their homes once again, Moody said. "It's been a terrible summer," he said. "People have been breathing the smoke pretty much the whole summer, [we] don't know what the impact is gonna be … long-term for people's health. A lot of our people are asthmatic [or] have respiratory issues." The evacuations at this time have mostly been co-ordinated by Nisichawayasihk with support from the Red Cross and Indigenous Services Canada at this time. While some evacuees will stay at a monastery, the majority of evacuees will go to the RBC Convention Centre in Winnipeg, where the province has set up one congregate shelter. "People are stressed out, people don't want to leave their communities, they don't know what's happening," Moody said. "People are scared when they leave their homes … they fear the unknown."
