Two people have been arrested in France, on suspicion of deliberately having started a wildfire near Paris. In the famous Fontainebleau forest, hundreds of firefighters are working to contain the flames. Two thousand hectares of land have already burnt down – forcing the evacuation of around one thousand people.
Details by senior reporter Catherine Norris Trent. The Fontainebleau blaze is contributing to what will likely be a historic year for fires in France, with 32,000 hectares burned already this year, more than the total in 2025, says Interior Minister Laurent Nunez French firefighters on Tuesday are still fighting two wildfires that have so far ravaged more than 1,900 hectares of Fontainebleau forest, a UNESCO biosphere reserve near Paris.
Police on Monday arrested two people suspected of starting the blaze that has forced some 1,000 local residents to evacuate. A fire raging in the historic and much-visited Fontainebleau forest south of Paris on Monday has prompted evacuations and disrupted train and highway traffic. Authorities say the fire, which has destroyed nearly five percent of the 25,000-hectare forest, could have been started by arson.
It comes as the region is endures its third heatwave of the summer, with tinder-dry vegetation and high temperatures fuelling blazes. FRANCE 24's Emerald Maxwell reports.
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