Several large wildfires that raged in southern France this week have been extinguished, and the fire alert has been lifted in most of the region, the country's meteorological service Meteo France said on Thursday
PARIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th July, 2023) Several large wildfires that raged in southern France this week have been extinguished, and the fire alert has been lifted in most of the region, the country's meteorological service Meteo France said on Thursday.
A map published by Meteo France's fire tracking service Meteo des Forets showed that a heightened fire risk alert was kept only in two southern regions on Thursday and will be lifted on Friday. Fifteen out of 101 French regions will be put under moderate - "yellow" - alert and neither will be considered at high risk due to heat.
French media reported that mass wildfires bypassed France, unlike other European countries. The 20Minutes daily said that since the beginning of the year, about 8,300 hectares of forest have burned out in the country, while the average for the end of July is 10,000 hectares. The newspaper explained it with heavy rains in June, which occurred in many regions across the country.
Spokesman for the French National Federation of Firefighters Eric Brocardi said that there have been 4,000 fires since the beginning of the year, which he described as "significant." He explained during an interview with 20Munites that France's strategy is to extinguish a fire when it is just emerging, which implies the intervention of firefighters as soon as possible.
On Wednesday, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that the wildfires in Corsica covered an area of 200 hectares, and more than 200 firefighters were deployed to extinguish them. On Tuesday, strong fires were registered in various departments, sometimes disrupting railroad and car traffic.
July 2023 may become the hottest month in the world's history, according to the latest report by the EU's Copernicus earth observation program. New temperature records were recorded in Spain, Italy, France, China and the United States. In Greece, wildfires have been raging for over a week now, hitting the island of Rhodes the hardest. Meteorologists warn of high risks to health of people and livestock, drought and threats to crop.
