bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Associated Press

France’s largest wildfire in decades was contained on Thursday after burning more than 160 sq km in the country’s southern wine region and claiming one life, local authorities said.
The blaze erupted on Tuesday and tore through the Aude region, spreading rapidly due to hot, dry weather. Cooler overnight temperatures and calmer winds slowed its advance and allowed firefighters to make headway.
Late Thursday, the region’s top government official said the fire was contained. However, residents were warned not to return home without authorisation, as many roads remained blocked and dangerous.
The fire swept through 15 communes in the Corbières mountain region, destroying or damaging at least 36 homes, with a full damage assessment still under way. One person died at home, and at least 13 others were injured, including 11 firefighters, according to local authorities. Three people who were reported missing have been found safe.

An investigation was under way to determine what sparked the fire.
The fire was the largest recorded since France’s national fire database was created in 2006.
But France’s minister for ecological transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, called the blaze the worst since 1949 and linked it to climate change.
“It is a fire that is clearly a consequence of climate change and drought in this region,” she told France Info radio.
Despite the breakthrough, officials warned the situation remained fragile.
“We still have a few days before we can say that the fire is completely out,” region administrator Christian Pouget said. “The battle is not over yet.

The region’s economy relies heavily on winemaking and tourism - both hard-hit.
The fire began in the village of Ribaute, in a rural, wooded area known for its wineries. Pouget said between 8 and 9 sq km of vineyards had burned. Officials estimate 80 per cent of local vines were either destroyed or damaged — and even the grapes that survived may be too smoke-tainted to produce quality wine.
“The vineyards are burnt and the landscape is gone,” said Batiste Caval, a seventh-generation winemaker near Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse.
Some vineyards acted as natural firebreaks, leaving a surreal patchwork of scorched hills and untouched green vines. But across the Corbières, entire stretches of historic vineyards were reduced to ash. Caval, who owns 60 of the 400 hectares farmed by a local cooperative, said the fire may tip already struggling winemakers into crisis after years of drought and other harsh weather.
New vines typically take three years to bear usable fruit. Some can produce wine for decades, even up to half a century.
“It’s very sad to think about the image we’re going to give of our Corbières region, with its devastated landscapes and desperate women and men, not just today or tomorrow, but for weeks and months to come. It will take years to rebuild,” said Xavier de Volontat, the mayor of Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, speaking to BFMTV.

Residents and tourists in nearby areas had been asked to stay indoors unless ordered to evacuate. Those forced to flee were housed overnight in emergency shelters across 17 municipalities.
Southern Europe has seen multiple large fires this summer. Scientists have warned that climate change was exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, making the region more vulnerable to wildfires. Last month, a wildfire that reached the southern port of Marseille, France’s second-largest city, left around 300 people injured.
Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing at twice the speed of the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.


Son of Libya’s late ruler Gaddafi killed by gunmen who stormed home

With US-Russia treaty set to expire, threat of a new nuclear arms race grows

Teen student stabs, critically wounds teacher in France

France raids X offices, summons Elon Musk over child pornography and deepfake probe

France

France’s largest wildfire in decades contained after tearing through wine region

Land scorched by a wildfire near Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, southern France. Photo: Reuters

A burnt forest area in Jonquières, southern France. Photo: AFP

An aerial view of a wildfire earlier this week. Photo: Securité Civile via Reuters

A satellite image shows areas burned near Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, France. Photo: Maxar Technologies via Reuters

1 dead, 13 injured in France’s biggest wildfire since 1949

A wildfire in a Mediterranean region near the Spanish border, southern France, is seen from the air on Tuesday. Photo: Securite Civile via AP

A hazy forest area during a wildfire in Durban-Corbières, southern France on Thursday. The fire swept across an area one-and-a-half times the size of Paris. Photo: AFP

An aerial view of the wildfire in a Mediterranean region near the Spanish border, southern France on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Deadly flash floods from ‘cloudburst’ in India’s Himalayas kill 4, wipe out town

Muddy water runs past residential buildings following a massive mudslide in India’s Uttarakhand state. Photo: Uttarakhand’s State Disaster Response Force/AFP

Flash floods tore down a mountain valley, appearing to wipe away much of a town in the tourist region of Dharali in Uttarakhand state. Photo: Uttarakhand’s State Disaster Response Force/AFP

31 die in Chinese nursing home as Beijing flood death toll rises to 44

On Wednesday in Huairou district, on the outskirts of Beijing, the devastation wrought by heavy rain is evident. The toll has been rising over the week as floods and a landslide have claimed  44 lives, with more missing. Photo: AFP

Members of the Chinese People’s Armed Police Force building a dyke in Miyun district, Beijing on Monday. Photo: Xinhua

Study estimates 2,300 died in Europe’s first summer heatwave

Participants lie on the ground on Berlin’s Pariser Platz and simulate death during a demonstration on July 20 to push for heat-protection laws in the city. Photo: dpa

People cool off at a fountain at Trocadero near Eiffel Tower during a heatwave on July 2 in Paris. Photo: AP

Smoke rises from a wildfire in Harmancik in Turkey’s northwestern Bursa province on Monday. Photo: Reuters

France’s largest wildfire in decades contained after tearing through wine region

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Blazes burned over 160 sq km and is considered the worst since 1949

Blazes burned over 160 sq km and is considered the worst since 1949