France battles smouldering fire near Marseille, warns of flare-ups

MARSEILLE (Reuters) -A wildfire that reached the northwestern outskirts of France's second-biggest city Marseille lost intensity overnight, though firefighters continued to battle the smouldering blaze on Wednesday and warned that it could flare up again.

Officials told residents they were no longer in lockdown, though some who were evacuated were likely to find their homes in ashes. Ten houses were completely destroyed and dozens damaged, they said, though no fatalities were reported.

"Everything on my grandmother's property was destroyed," resident Melanie Basques said, adding that her grandmother was safe after being evacuated on Tuesday.

But the destruction was extensive, she said.

"There are three families on that land, and on our side, everything was destroyed - sheds, homes, everything. Photos that were sent show her house is completely destroyed."

Marseille firefighters' chief Lionel Mathieu said around 700 crew, assisted by helicopters dropping water, were trying to rein in fires north of the city and prevent them from being rekindled.

"It is clear that with such a major fire, there may be new flare-ups," Marseille prefect Georges-Francois Leclerc told reporters.

Mediterranean countries are in a "wildfire hotspot," scientists say, with blazes common in hot and dry weather which have become more destructive in recent years due to a fast-changing climate.

This week and last week, fires have also raged in northeastern Spain and in parts of Greece, including Athens and the island of Crete.

HOMES DESTROYED

Meanwhile, Marseille residents who were evacuated were trying to get news of their homes.

Djenna Boualia said her parents' house on the northern outskirts of the city was still standing.

"The fire was really close. There were even flames in the garden," Boualia told Reuters, adding: "My mother was panicking."

"There have been fires in the area before, several times, but never of this scale; never like this... My parents have lived there for 25 years, and we had never seen a house burn," she said.

The airport for Marseille was reopened but could close again to prioritise air space if the fire flares up again. Roads were reopened too, as were some train routes.

On Tuesday, the blaze, which officials said was caused by a car that caught fire on a highway, was fanned by winds of up to 70 kph (43 mph).

The fire in Marseille and a separate blaze near the city of Narbonne, were the first major ones of the summer, Sophie Primas, a government spokesperson, said in an interview with RTL on Wednesday, adding that the wildfire season had started earlier this year.

(Reporting by Marc Leras in Marseille and Makini Brice, Sudip Kar-Gupta, Richard Lough and Diana Mandia Alvarez; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Kate Mayberry, Tom Hogue and Bernadette Baum)