A fast-moving wildfire is approaching France’s second biggest city Marseille and has closed the city’s airport while residents have been advised to stay indoors.
Photos show the city blanketed by thick clouds of smoke from the wildfire that is being driven by winds of up to 70 kilometres an hour.
Around 168 firefighters are tackling the blaze of around 30 hectares near the town of Les Pennes-Mirabeau, north of Marseille.
People living in the 16th arrondissement of the city have been told to ‘remain confined’ as the fire nears the city.
Marseille Mayor Benoit Payan wrote on X: ‘The violent fire declared in Pennes-Mirabeau is now at the gates of Marseille.
‘I ask all Marseillais to be extremely vigilant and to limit their movements as much as possible to make way for emergency services, particularly in the north of the city.
‘Residents of the 16th arrondissement are requested to remain confined.’
He added that the French Navy would form part of the response to the spread of the wildfire.
Monique Baillard, a resident of Les Pennes-Mirabeau, described the scene as ‘very striking’ and ‘apocalyptic even’.
A spokesperson for Marseille Airport confirmed that flights had not been taking off or landing since around midday.
Some flights have been diverted to cities like Nice, Nimes and other regional airports.
It is not yet known when the airport will reopen.
Train lines were also suspended heading north and west from Marseille because of a fire near the tracks, the SNCF train operator said.
Another wildfire that started near Narbonne, in southwestern France, was still active on Monday, fanned by winds of 60 kilometres per hour, causing around 2,000 hectares to burn.
Destructive wildfires have already caused havoc in the Mediterranean this summer.
More than 1,500 people were evacuated from their homes and hotels on the Greek island of Crete last week.
Evacuations were ordered at three sites outside the port of Ierapetra on the island’s south coast while 230 firefighters battled the flames.
Elsewhere in Europe, extreme heat has been deadly. A ten-year-old American girl collapsed and died during a visit to the Palace of Versailles in France last week.
Spain has also faced temperatures in the low 40s, and has also experienced wildfires in multiple places across the country.
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