A wildfire burning has grown to become the country’s biggest since 1949.
Copyright Richard Capoulade/UGC via AP
By Rosie Frost
Published on 07/08/2025 -
Hotspots across southern Europe have been scorched this summer, stoked by high temperatures and drought.
A wildfire burning in the south of France has grown to become the country’s biggest since 1949.
It has claimed one life and burned more than 16,000 hectares - an area one and a half times the size of Paris - in the south of France.
French Prime Minister François Bayrou described it as a “catastrophe of unprecedented scale”.
The blaze, which began on Tuesday afternoon near the village of Ribaute in the Aude region near the border with Spain and not far from the Mediterranean Sea, has been raging for three days.
In the first 12 hours of the fire, it spread across 11,000 hectares of land - an area roughly equivalent to the size of Paris. Within 24 hours, it had destroyed the same amount of land as wildfires usually burn across France in a year.
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Now it has burned more than 16,000 hectares to become the biggest fire since the creation of France’s national fire database in 2006, the national emergency management service has said.
Images shared by Météo-France show that the smoke plume from the blaze is visible from space.
France’s largest fire in over 70 years
The fire spread quickly due to strong winds, dry vegetation and hot summer weather, officials have said.
“The night was cooler, so the fire is spreading more slowly but it remains the most significant fire France has seen since 1949,” France’s minister for ecological transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, told France Info radio.
“It is a fire that is clearly a consequence of climate change and drought in this region.”
Michael Sabot, deputy director of the Aude fire department, told France's BFM-TV that “unfavourable weather conditions” meant the blaze “certainly” wouldn’t be brought under control on Thursday.
Forecast high temperatures and strong, more than 40km per hour winds would further dry out vegetation, he said. After a cooler start to the week, Météo-France has forecast intensifying heat in the south with temperatures of up to 40°C and a high risk of wildfires.
Burned trees during France's biggest wildfire this summer, near Durban-Corbieres, southern France. AP Photo/Hernan Munoz
While current weather conditions play a role, prolonged dry weather has also increased the fire risk.
Mediterranean regions of the country are experiencing significant drought, meaning vegetation and trees are highly susceptible to fires, Météo-France says. It adds that recently, even tall trees have been affected, allowing for very intense fires - a sign of just how severe this drought is
The Aude region in particular has been facing water use restrictions due to a “drought crisis” since 1 August, with a lack of rainfall in recent months playing “a major role in the spreading of the fire”, according to the environment ministry.
It adds that in the neighbouring Pyrénées-Orientales, rainfall has reduced by around 60 per cent since 2022.
An investigation into the exact cause of the fire is ongoing.
Is climate change fuelling wildfires in the Mediterranean?
This year has so far brought an extremely active and damaging fire season in Europe.
Monitoring from the European Forest Fire Information System shows that wildfires have burned 353,862 hectares of land since the beginning of 2025 - more than twice the area burned during the same period last year.
While current weather conditions play a role, prolonged dry weather has also increased the fire risk.
Mediterranean regions of the country are experiencing significant drought, meaning vegetation and trees are highly susceptible to fires, Météo-France says. It adds that recently, even tall trees have been affected, allowing for very intense fires - a sign of just how severe this drought is
The Aude region in particular has been facing water use restrictions due to a “drought crisis” since 1 August, with a lack of rainfall in recent months playing “a major role in the spreading of the fire”, according to the environment ministry.
It adds that in the neighbouring Pyrénées-Orientales, rainfall has reduced by around 60 per cent since 2022.
An investigation into the exact cause of the fire is ongoing.
Is climate change fuelling wildfires in the Mediterranean?
This year has so far brought an extremely active and damaging fire season in Europe.
Monitoring from the European Forest Fire Information System shows that wildfires have burned 353,862 hectares of land since the beginning of 2025 - more than twice the area burned during the same period last year.
Related
Europe’s wildfire emissions soar to record highs as extreme heat and drought fuel summer blazes
Hotspots across the Mediterranean have been scorched this summer, stoked by heatwaves and drought. Southern Europe has seen multiple large fires, with scientists warning that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, making the region more vulnerable to fires.
According to European Drought Observatory data, more than half of Europe, including the Mediterranean, experienced the worst drought conditions in the first part of July since monitoring began in 2021.
Scientists have warned that climate change is making droughts worse and changing rainfall patterns in Europe. Where regions like the Mediterranean would previously have had a chance to recover, balance or prepare for a lack of water in summer in wetter seasons, they can no longer depend on rainfall in the same way.
Wildfire in southern France kills woman and forces mass evacuations
One person has died and several firefighters have been injured after a wildfire tore through 11,000 hectares of forest between Lagrasse and Ribaute in southern France.
07/08/2025 - RFI
One person has died and several firefighters have been injured after a wildfire tore through 11,000 hectares of forest between Lagrasse and Ribaute in southern France.
07/08/2025 - RFI
Firefighters were battling to contain a wildfire that swept through 11,000 hectares in southern France. AFP - IDRISS BIGOU-GILLES
The victim, described as an elderly woman, was found dead in her house in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse as more than 1,500 firefighters battled the blaze that broke out on Tuesday afternoon.
Seven aircraft dropped thousands of tonnes of water to stop the fire reaching homes in the villages of Lagrasse, Fabrezan and Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse.
Water drops resumed on Wednesday morning. More than 300 firefighters from nearby regions were due to arrive as reinforcements.
Several roads were closed to allow emergency crews to get through faster, said Aude police on Tuesday night.
Early on Wednesday, the A9 motorway – a major route between France and Spain – was shut in both directions between Narbonne and Perpignan because of thick smoke on the road.
Maud Bonnel from VINCI Autoroutes told Radio VINCI Autoroutes: "The Lézignan exit on the A61 is closed because the departmental road that continues from there leads to the fire.
"We are awaiting instructions from the fire brigade, but the fire has not been contained."
Holidaymakers at the Lagrasse and Fabrezan campsites were evacuated as a precautionary measure, along with around 30 houses in the village of Tournissan.
'Conditions right for fire'
"The fire was spreading in an area where all the conditions are right for it to spread. This fire will keep us busy for several days," Lucie Roesch, secretary general of the Aude prefecture, told BFMTV.
Since the beginning of summer, several fires have broken out in the Aude department, which has been affected by drought and high temperatures.
One at the start of July, the largest in the department since 1986, burned through 2,000 hectares and mobilised nearly 1,000 firefighters near Narbonne.
"We've gone from losing an average of 300 to 400 hectares per year in the early 2000s to nearly 1,000 hectares today," Jean-Paul Baylac, head of forest fires at the Aude departmental fire and rescue service, told the French news agency AFP.
On Tuesday night, President Emmanuel Macron took to social media to call for calm.
"All the nation's resources are being mobilised," he said."
(with newswires)
The victim, described as an elderly woman, was found dead in her house in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse as more than 1,500 firefighters battled the blaze that broke out on Tuesday afternoon.
Seven aircraft dropped thousands of tonnes of water to stop the fire reaching homes in the villages of Lagrasse, Fabrezan and Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse.
Water drops resumed on Wednesday morning. More than 300 firefighters from nearby regions were due to arrive as reinforcements.
Several roads were closed to allow emergency crews to get through faster, said Aude police on Tuesday night.
Early on Wednesday, the A9 motorway – a major route between France and Spain – was shut in both directions between Narbonne and Perpignan because of thick smoke on the road.
Maud Bonnel from VINCI Autoroutes told Radio VINCI Autoroutes: "The Lézignan exit on the A61 is closed because the departmental road that continues from there leads to the fire.
"We are awaiting instructions from the fire brigade, but the fire has not been contained."
Holidaymakers at the Lagrasse and Fabrezan campsites were evacuated as a precautionary measure, along with around 30 houses in the village of Tournissan.
'Conditions right for fire'
"The fire was spreading in an area where all the conditions are right for it to spread. This fire will keep us busy for several days," Lucie Roesch, secretary general of the Aude prefecture, told BFMTV.
Since the beginning of summer, several fires have broken out in the Aude department, which has been affected by drought and high temperatures.
One at the start of July, the largest in the department since 1986, burned through 2,000 hectares and mobilised nearly 1,000 firefighters near Narbonne.
"We've gone from losing an average of 300 to 400 hectares per year in the early 2000s to nearly 1,000 hectares today," Jean-Paul Baylac, head of forest fires at the Aude departmental fire and rescue service, told the French news agency AFP.
On Tuesday night, President Emmanuel Macron took to social media to call for calm.
"All the nation's resources are being mobilised," he said."
(with newswires)
'Wildfires in south of France becoming more widespread, challenging to manage over past 10-15 years'
Issued on: 07/08/2025 -
France’s largest wildfire in decades continued to burn and spread Thursday, though at a slower pace, after having already ravaged more than 160 square kilometers (62 square miles) in the south of the country and claiming one life, local authorities said. The blaze, which started Tuesday and tore through the Corbières massif in the Aude region, has remained uncontained despite the deployment of over 2,100 firefighters and several water bomber aircraft. For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective, FRANCE 24's Delano D'Souza welcomes Lieutenant-Colonel Frédéric Harrault, spokesperson for the of the French Civil Security and Crisis Management Agency (DGSCGC).
Video by: Delano D'SOUZA
Issued on: 07/08/2025 -
France’s largest wildfire in decades continued to burn and spread Thursday, though at a slower pace, after having already ravaged more than 160 square kilometers (62 square miles) in the south of the country and claiming one life, local authorities said. The blaze, which started Tuesday and tore through the Corbières massif in the Aude region, has remained uncontained despite the deployment of over 2,100 firefighters and several water bomber aircraft. For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective, FRANCE 24's Delano D'Souza welcomes Lieutenant-Colonel Frédéric Harrault, spokesperson for the of the French Civil Security and Crisis Management Agency (DGSCGC).
Video by: Delano D'SOUZA
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