Wildfire Near Fontainebleau Burns Over 800 Hectares, Shuts A6 Highway

According to Lianhe Zaobao citing Reuters, a wildfire near Fontainebleau, about 70 kilometers south of Paris, broke out Sunday afternoon on July 12 and had burned more than 800 hectares of woodland by midnight, fanned by hot winds during France’s third heatwave since May. Authorities deployed two firefighting aircraft as hundreds of firefighters worked overnight, but the blaze had not been brought under control; the fire service said on Monday, July 13 that operations were continuing, with aircraft drawing water from the Seine River. The A6 highway linking Paris with southern France was closed, and other smaller fires in the area disrupted high-speed rail services. The Fontainebleau Palace also closed early over the weekend and on Monday due to a red heat alert.