The fire, which began on Tuesday afternoon, has already destroyed more than 16,000 hectares of forest, the highest amount in this century and in the last 50 years, with dozens of homes and burned vehicles and a provisional human cost of one person dead and 13 wounded, two of them seriously.

The flames hit 17 communes in Aude, where the Prefecture and local authorities evacuated hundreds of residents and vacationers into shelters, while many villagers were called to stay in their homes.

Yesterday, the French Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, announced the arrival of military reinforcements in air and manpower.

Quoted this morning by the channel Franceinfo, the minister for the Ecological Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, assured that the so-called “summer fire” progresses in a slower way, although it is still out of control.

abo/npg/wmr