France's devastating fires now 'under control,' says PM

The fires that have ravaged France are "today under control," Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said Saturday, more than a week after the country's largest wildfire since 1949 flared up.

"Overall, the fires are now under control in our country," he said in an interview with the La Tribune Dimanche weekly.

The largest wildfire erupted more than a week ago in a pine forest near the southwestern city of Bordeaux.

"We have returned to a more stable situation," Lecornu said, confirming earlier comments by Interior Minister Laurent Nunez.

France has for weeks been battling wildfires after a series of deadly heatwaves that have dried up riverbeds and vegetation, extreme weather events scientists have linked to human-made climate change.

In the Gironde region near the winemaking capital of Bordeaux, an inferno ripped through 42,000 hectares of pine forest along the Atlantic coastline – an area larger than the US city of Detroit. It also destroyed around 240 homes.

Some local people think a brushwood-clearing machine accidentally started the blaze with a spark on July 29.

Sophie Brocas, the prefect of the southwestern Gironde region, remained cautious on Saturday.

"Fire fixed doesn't mean fire out," she warned, mentioning two "hot points" still giving cause for concern.

But most of the 224,000 people evacuated from the flames have been allowed to return to their homes, she said.

She said the others would have to wait for the fire to be put out in the areas where it was still active.

Most land burnt in years

Lecornu, in his interview, made it clear that if the situation changed, the authorities would take the appropriate action.

The fire in the southeastern Var region was still under close surveillance, he added.

Firefighters there have managed to stem the advance of a fast-moving blaze that sprang up Friday, said regional prefect Simon Babre.

Strong winds fanning the flames had caused them to spread "faster than a galloping horse," he said, warning that the situation was still "extremely precarious."

"We're staying cautious because the fight goes on," he added.

The fire was just the latest of several that have consumed 5,600 hectares of land in total in the region in July. Hollywood star George Clooney, his wife Amal and children were among those forced to flee their home earlier this week.

Rail traffic, interrupted since last weekend south of Bordeaux, finally resumed on Saturday as another wave of holidaymakers started or finished their summer breaks.

The wildfire near Bordeaux is the largest nationwide since a deadly forest fire in the same region in 1949, which scorched around 50,000 hectares.

Lecornu, in his interview, encouraged people to go on holiday in the region as "a gesture of solidarity."

The total area of land burnt so far this year in France – 92,000 hectares – is the largest on record for any year over the past 20 years, according to satellite data from the European Forest Fire Information System.

Elsewhere in France, a fire in the Fontainebleau forest near Paris incinerated a tenth of the UNESCO-listed site in mid-July, after several other wildfires in the country.

Across France, police have arrested 308 people in connection with the fires, of whom 33 are being held in custody.