PARIS (Reuters) -A wildfire in the southern French prefecture of Aude is not expected to be under control until late on Sunday, the regional chief firefighter said on French television.
The fire, which began Tuesday, is one of the largest recorded in France since 1949. Spread over 16,000 hectares (around 40,000 acres), it has led to one fatality, the injury of 19 firefighters and six civilians, and several dozen homes have been destroyed.
“The fire is contained but not controlled. We still have hot spots (…) until Sunday evening the fire will not be brought under control,” Colonel Christophe Magny told a news conference broadcast on BFM TV.
All of the local departmental roads have been reopened, but the entrance into the wildfire zone is prohibited due to the risk of rekindling, the local French prefecture said in a statement on Saturday.
French authorities have attributed the fire to the impact of climate change. An orange heatwave warning – the second highest warning level that encourages people to remain vigilant – is in effect for the department until midnight on Sunday, the prefecture said.
Before the fire began, the region’s wine growers had dug up an extensive area of their vineyards, which traditionally serve as a natural, moisture-retentive firebreak, as declining wine consumption and subsidies have reduced profits.
(Reporting by Forrest Crellin and Claude Chendjou; editing by Barbara Lewis)
