‘Apocalyptic' blazes force Marseilles airport to SHUT as residents evacuated & choking smoke billows over French region
Plumes of acrid smoke billowed into the sky - causing the airport to close its runways shortly after midday and cancel dozens of flights.
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A helicopter drops water on a wildfire that rapidly expands due to strong winds near the city of Marseille
Credit: EPA
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A wildfire expands due to strong winds near the city of Marseille
Credit: EPA
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L'Estaque, a district of Marseilles, covered in dense smoke
Credit: AFP
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The fire is said to have started in a vehicle in the area of Pennes-Mirabeau to the north of Marseilles.
By the afternoon, it roared across 350 hectares (860 acres), according to French firefighters.
The blaze, fanned by winds of up to 70 kilometres per hour, could be smelled in the centre of Marseilles, as thick clouds of smoke hovered over the city.
Water-dropping planes tried to extinguish the fire on the outskirts of the city, which has some 900,000 inhabitants.
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"Its very striking - apocalyptic even," said Monique Baillard, a resident of Les Pennes-Mirabeau.
A spokesperson for Marseilles airport, France's fourth-busiest, said planes had not been taking off or landing since around midday.
They added that some flights had been diverted to Nice, Nimes and other regional airports. It was unclear when the airport would reopen.
In response, emergency services have mobilised more than 720 firefighters and 230 water machines.
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Alongside that, four water bomber helicopters, one dash aircraft and four canadairs (specialist firefighting aircraft) have been deployed, according to Sky News.
The wildfire also interrupted train traffic as the blaze spread rapidly to the edges of the southern French city.
Devastating wildfires spread in Turkey leaving two dead and forcing thousands to evacuate as city's mayor pleads for help
French railway operator SNCF said the circulation of trains between Marseilles and the Miramas-Aix high-speed TGV train station was stopped due to a fire nearing the tracks in L'Estaque, a picturesque neighbourhood in the city.
The city's mayor warned that the fire continues to spread north of Marseilles.
Benoit Payan said: "The fire that started this morning in Pennes-Mirabeau continues to spread north of Marseilles.
"I went to the command post of the Marseilles Firefighters Battalion to monitor the operations."
He repeated previous pleas to people to stay inside and adhere to official instructions.
Earlier, Payan on X warned residents that the fire was now "at the doors of Marseilles", urging inhabitants in the north of the city to refrain from taking to the roads to make way for rescue services.
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Smoke from a wildfire rages near Plage des Corbieres, on the outskirts of Marseilles
Credit: AFP
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A fire-fighting aircraft Air Tractor AT-802 drops fire retardant over a wildfire near Aussieres neighbourhood, close to the city of Narbonne
Credit: AFP
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Smoke rises over Marseilles as a fast-moving wildfire spreads on the outskirts the city, southern France, July 8, 2025. REUTERS/Alexandre Dimou
Credit: Reuters
Meanwhile, the mayor of Pennes-Mirabeau said two housing estates had been evacuated and firefighters had positioned themselves outside an old people's home to fight off approaching flames.
The fire near Marseilles is just the latest to have hit France in recent days.
Several weeks of heat waves combined with strong winds have increased the risk of wildfires in southern France, with several breaking out over the past couple of days.
To the west, near the city of Narbonne, more than 1,000 firefighters from around the country were seeking to contain another blaze.
It had crept across 2,000 hectares (4,900 acres) of trees since starting on the property of a winery on Monday afternoon, they said.
In the village of Prat-de-Cest on Tuesday morning, trees were blackened or still on fire.
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A police officer tries to extinguish a car on fire in L'Estaque a district of Marseilles
Credit: AFP
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This photographs shows vegetation smouldering after a wildfire near the Aussieres neighbourhood, close to the city of Narbonne, southwestern France, on July 8, 2025. (Photo by Matthieu RONDEL / AFP) (Photo by MATTHIEU RONDEL/AFP via Getty Images)
Credit: AFP
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Hughie and Shannen 'I think people would think me and Hughie would be in Ibiza but I said 'I know it's your birthday coming up, Luke can't come with me, would you love you to go?' and he said he was there as a child as well and religion is very close to his heart,' explains Shannen (31). 'It's just a sense of healing and spiritual. If you lose someone and you kind of go and you see a lot of people who are sick. Like my nana died from cancer, I have friends with sick family members, my granddad has dementia. 'I felt like going would be a sense of healing and praying for others. Like I would have a belief in that anyway. So it was kind of to go and get a sense of belief and a bit of luck, that's my kind of thing. I think the way the world is going we want some calmness and something to believe in. Important 'I know in this day and age people want to be in Ibiza and they want to be on social media. But family should be important to people as well.' 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So that was lovely to be involved,' she said. ' We had to carry the flag, and also to go up on the alter at the end of it and look down at all the sick being blessed and say the prayers. 'We had our times for masses, times for vigils. We went to the holy baths and We went to different towns, Bernadette's house. We did get a bit of sun walking around and I did go to the pool a few times in the evenings. 'You see people in their wheelchairs and they're looking for hope and to be blessed. There's also a lot of sick kids. Wheeled 'On one of the nights we went four times, and there's a lot of sick children being wheeled in and laid out on hospital type beds, so it's kind of surreal when you're there.' She stresses that people worry about stupid things when there are others with serious illnesses and praying for a miracle. 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