Southern France wildfire forces mass evacuations as 1,700 hectares burn in hours

A rapidly spreading wildfire tore through southern France's Var region on Tuesday, scorching 1,700 hectares in just a few hours, forcing nearly 400 people to evacuate and leaving more than 2,300 homes without electricity as nearly 1,000 firefighters and water-bombing aircraft mounted a major effort to contain the blaze.

The blaze broke out near the village of Ponteves before sweeping across wooded hills in the Var region. According to the area's top official, Simon Barbre, the fire advanced at an unexpectedly rapid pace despite weakening winds and prevailing weather conditions.

"The fire is moving down Gros Bessillon mountain at a very fast speed, which was not at all anticipated given the climatic conditions and weakening wind," Barbre said.

Evacuations were carried out around the villages of Cotignac, Montfort-sur-Argens and Correns. Many of those moved to safety were residents of Ponteves, where the fire began, along with people from the nearby village of Sillans-la-Cascade.

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The prefecture said overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday that more than 2,300 homes remained without power.

Firefighters race to slow advancing flames

According to French weather service Meteo-France, exceptionally dry conditions have pushed the region to an extreme forest-fire risk.

Barbre said aerial firefighting crews were working to establish fire-retardant barriers ahead of the advancing blaze.

An AFP journalist near Cotignac witnessed a vast plume of grey smoke rising behind a ridge consumed by flames.

"This fire is the absolute priority of the whole area right now," said Var fire chief Eric Grohin, adding that between 900 and 950 firefighters were deployed on the ground.

Volunteers respond as damage mounts

Residents also joined the emergency response as the wildfire spread.

"It's grown enormously, it's spreading to other villages," said Isabelle Scarica, one of around 50 volunteers in Ponteves preparing sandwiches for firefighters.

She described the situation as "a major disaster".

Local authorities said one fire engine was damaged, while four firefighters and two Ponteves residents suffered minor smoke inhalation.

Before aircraft were grounded for the night, crews carried out more than 100 water and fire-retardant drops using eight Canadair water bombers, four water-dropping helicopters and two Dash aircraft.

Wildfire season intensifies across France

Driven by repeated heatwaves and drought, France's 2026 wildfire season began earlier than usual, with firefighters responding to near-daily outbreaks in recent weeks.

Another major wildfire burned 200 hectares and destroyed homes in the Var region between Sunday and Monday near Les Arcs-sur-Argens.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said nearly 40,000 hectares have burned in France since the start of the year, "far more than was burned during the whole of last year".

Wildfires were also burning elsewhere in the country.

In the Alps, a lightning-triggered fire that started five days ago had consumed 130 hectares in a remote part of the Ecrins mountain range.

On the Mediterranean island of Corsica, firefighters continued battling a separate wildfire near Corte after nine days.