Fontainebleau, France. More than 400 firefighters worked overnight to contain a wildfire in the historic Fontainebleau forest south of Paris, where flames had scorched more than 800 hectares by midnight.
Two Canadair waterbombing planes were deployed on Monday as hot winds fanned the blaze during a heatwave affecting western Europe.
Fire response and transport disruption
The fire broke out alongside a highway near Fontainebleau, home to one of France’s best-known royal palaces, which served as a hunting lodge and autumn residence for past monarchs.
The A6 highway, linking Paris with Lyon and southern France, was closed because of the blaze, located about 70 kilometres from Paris. Smaller fires in the area also disrupted high-speed train services.
“The fight continues today,” the French fire service said on X. Local residents were warned that the Canadair aircraft would need to collect water from the Seine, which runs through central Paris.
Heatwave and fires across Europe
European countries are facing increasingly frequent heatwaves and record temperatures. Scientists say climate change is driving fires as large areas of continental Europe become parched.
Wildfires have already affected parts of France, Spain, Portugal and Greece, burning thousands of hectares.
In Spain, the death toll from a wildfire in the southeastern province of Almeria rose to 13 over the weekend after a 93-year-old British woman died from burns.
Excess deaths during heatwave
Western Europe is experiencing its third prolonged period of high temperatures this summer. A heatwave in late June likely caused thousands of deaths, with countries reporting more than 10,000 excess deaths.
The heat also disrupted power supplies, closed schools and broke temperature records in France, Spain and Britain.
“To have this kind of excess at this time of year is unusual. It’s really high,” said Lasse Vestergaard, chief physician at Denmark’s Statens Serum Institut, which hosts the Europe-wide mortality surveillance system EuroMOMO.