Holidaymakers flee as fires rage in southern France
BORMES-LES-MIMOSAS: Over 10,000 people, including thousands of holidaymakers, were evacuated from campsites and homes in southern France as firefighters on Wednesday battled the latest in a string of huge blazes along the Mediterranean coast.
The new fire broke out on Tuesday night after France asked for Europe’s help to tackle the flames already raging in several spots on the tinderdry south, including near the popular Riviera resort of Saint-Tropez.
Firefighters are also battling fires on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica and in Portugal.
About 3,000 of those evacuated from the picturesque coastal village of Bormes-les-Mimosas were tourists staying in campgrounds, some of whom ended up spending the night in sleeping bags on the beach.
Village mayor Francois Arizzi said between 10,000 and 12,000 people had been moved to public shelters but that some had preferred to sleep in their cars. Lisa Minor, travel editor of British tabloid The Sun, who was in the area on a family holiday, tweeted pictures of orange smoke billowing from a ridge behind her campsite and of bleary-eyed families packed into a beachfront creche.
The head of the rescue operation, Serge La Vialle, said that more than 550 firefighters backed by five water bomber aircraft had not yet managed to contain the blaze.
“It’s moving slowly and even growing a bit,” he said. France’s Cote d’Azur bulges in July and August as holidaymakers head to the beach.
Bormes-les-Mimosas “doubles or triples its population in summer”, a local fire official said. The area is experiencing a particularly hot and dry summer that has made it especially vulnerable to fires.
Arizzi told French radio he believed Tuesday night’s blaze, which started in a caravan storage depot, was the work of arsonists. Other fires have been blamed on discarded cigarettes.
Over 4,000 firefighters and troops backed by 19 water bombers have been mobilised to fight the fires that first began on Monday, fanned by strong winds.