Météo-France, the French national meteorological service, placed the Gard region in southern France "on maximum alert for forest fires" on July 8 due to the heat and gusts of wind. Some 745 firefighters from all over France have been mobilized for what local relief workers are calling a "mega-fire" in the north of the area, near the Ardèche. So far, wildfires have destroyed at least 650 hectares of land.