PARIS: A fast-moving wildfire in a Mediterranean region of France near the Spanish border has left one person dead, several others injured and was still spreading Wednesday after damaging a swath of land as big as Paris overnight, authorities said.
About 1,500 firefighters worked overnight to contain the blaze, which broke out Tuesday afternoon in the village of Ribaute in the Aude region. It remained ‘’very active” on Wednesday and weather conditions were unfavorable, the local administration said in a statement.
One person died in their home and nine others were injured, and at least one person was missing, the statement said.
It said the fire had spread for 12 hours over 11,000 hectares of land, which is roughly equivalent to the size of the French capital. That makes it the biggest wildfire in France so far this summer.
Southern Europe has seen multiple large fires this summer. Scientists warn that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, making the region more vulnerable to wildfires.
Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing at twice the speed of the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.