Fontainebleau, France. A wildfire near the historic Fontainebleau forest forced the closure of a major highway and disrupted high-speed rail services on Monday, while Spain’s death toll from a wildfire in Almeria rose to 13 amid a heatwave across western Europe.
France deployed hundreds of firefighters and water-bombing aircraft to tackle the fast-moving blaze, which broke out near a motorway about 70 kilometres from Paris.
Fire response and transport disruption
The fire forced the closure of the A6 highway, which links Paris with Lyon and southern France. Smaller fires in the area also disrupted high-speed train services.
Fontainebleau is home to one of France’s best-known royal palaces, which served as a hunting lodge and autumn residence for past monarchs.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the circumstances surrounding the fire were suspicious.
“There were around ten points where the fire started within a 1,000 metre radius, which suggests it may have been started deliberately,” he said.
Heatwave warnings
France placed about 26 million people under a red heatwave warning on Monday, including the greater Paris region. Forecasters said the heatwave was expected to continue until the middle of the week.
The region is experiencing its third heatwave of the summer, with dry vegetation and high temperatures fuelling fires from the Iberian Peninsula to France.
Deaths in Spain
In Spain, the death toll from last week’s wildfire in the southern province of Almeria reached 13 after a 93-year-old British woman died from burns, authorities said. Ten people remained missing as of Monday.
Scientists monitoring excess deaths, defined as mortality above normal levels, said thousands more fatalities than usual were recorded during a heatwave that affected Europe and Britain at the end of June.