A wildfire in the Corbières region of France, engaging 1,400 firefighters, is not expected to be under control until late Sunday, according to fire officials.
“The fire is contained but not controlled, with hot spots remaining. It won’t be contained until Sunday evening,” said Colonel Christophe Magny at a press briefing.
Dry, hot winds of 50 km/h and temperatures near 40°C are forecasted for Sunday and are causing concern among authorities.
With the Aude region on orange alert for a heatwave on Saturday, firefighters are on high alert, monitoring the 90 kilometres of fire lines to prevent the blaze from advancing towards the Mediterranean coast and the A9 motorway, which it nearly reached on Wednesday.
Bulldozers have created 10 kilometres of tracks to provide new access points and facilitate firefighting efforts in steep areas with dense vegetation.
The fire will not be “declared extinguished for several days,” warned the Prefect of Aude, adding, “there is still a lot of work to do.”
Residents, who were evacuated hurriedly on Tuesday, were allowed to return to their homes in 15 affected villages on Friday evening. This incident marks the region’s largest wildfire in over 50 years.
The human toll remains unchanged. A woman was killed in her home in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, the hardest-hit area, while another resident suffered severe burns.
Nineteen firefighters were injured, with one incurring a head injury.
The fire began on Tuesday around 40 kilometres from Narbonne and Carcassonne, scorching 16,000 hectares of vegetation, of which 13,000 hectares have burned, according to civil protection. The cause of the fire is still unknown.
