A blaze that raced through wooded hills in southern France, forcing hundreds from their homes and devouring an area twice the size of London’s Heathrow airport, has been brought under control, firefighters said on 22nd July.

“For the moment it’s been contained in its perimeter, meaning it’s not spreading much,” regional fire chief Éric Grohin told reporters of the fire that erupted the previous day in the Var region. 

“There are still lots of hot spots and lots of flames in a lot of places, though, so we are very conscious of that this morning,” he said.

Tuesday, the fire broke out in the Var region and spread at an unexpectedly high rate, forcing some 400 people to flee, and consuming 2,550 hectares (6,300 acres) — about twice the size of London’s Heathrow airport.

Almost 1,000 firefighters and water aircraft specialised in the fire struggle worked to extinguish the blaze in the area bordered by Marseille and Nice, in the south-east of France, near the Mediterranean coast.

Over 2,300 houses were cut off from electricity overnight Tuesday to Wednesday, the prefecture said.

Local fire officials reported that one of the fire engines was damaged and four firefighters and two residents of Pontèves were exposed to smoke inhalation, though it was minor.

The French weather service, Meteo-France, has issued an extreme forest-fire warning in the area because of very dry weather.

The 2026 wildfire season started early, with repeated heatwaves and droughts leading to an earlier beginning, and firefighters have been working to extinguish wildfires in France in recent weeks on a near-daily basis.

Homes were also burned, and 200 hectares were burned in another major fire in the Var region Sunday through Monday near Les Arcs-sur-Argens.

Fire has swept through nearly 40,000 hectares of France since the beginning of this year, “much more than was burned last year”, said Interior Minister Laurent Nunez.

Other fires were burning in other parts of France.

A wildfire that started five days ago after lightning struck in a remote region of the Écrins mountain range in the Alps has covered 130 hectares.

Firefighters are still fighting a blaze near the town of Corte on the Mediterranean island of Corsica nine days later.