Emergency services staff injured tackling huge Riviera wildfires
HUNDREDS OF firefighters have been battling blazes fanned by high winds in more than a dozen zones in the Riviera region of southern France.
Firefighters and police officers are said to have been injured tackling the wildfires, which led to the evacuation of about 100 people from Ramatuelle, near tourist hotspot Saint-Tropez, on Monday night.
Flames burned almost 2,000 acres around the Var, with two villas destroyed in La Croix Valmer, seven miles west of SaintTropez.
Yorkshire couple Diana and John Wardill, both 70, were among the residents and holidaymakers forced to flee their homes as the huge blaze swept the hillside around nearby Gigaro.
Speaking from the region, Mrs Wardill, from Guisborough, told the fire took less than a minute to sweep up the hillside just 200 yards from their holiday home. “It was shocking. It happened so quickly. As soon as the flames touched an umbrella pine, it just crackled up. It sounds a cliché but it was just like a tinder box. It was just ready to go and took hold so quickly.”
Mr Wardill said: “We watched it for a bit but realised how quickly it was moving, so we came in and packed our bags and got in the car.”
The couple spent the night parked on the seafront as fire engines used the resort estate, Mas De Gigaro, as one of the main routes of access to the blaze.
“It was very moving to see convoys of fire engines in the dark moving towards what looked like Armageddon – not retreating. It was scary,” said Mrs Wardill.
A huge fire in the neighbouring Luberon region was yesterday believed to be under control.
The largest blaze was in northern Corsica, with nearly 5,000 acres burned. There have been no reports of injuries among residents or tourists. Eight firefighters and 15 police officers have been hurt in the fires, which broke out on Monday and have consumed nearly 4,000 hectares (9,880 acres) of vegetation, according to French authorities.