France this week recorded the largest forest fire in the country this year. The flames began on Tuesday (5) in the village of Ribaute, in the region of Aude, and continue to cause damage in a mediterranean region in the south of the country, near the border with Spain. The environmental disaster reached more than 13,000 hectares of forest, the equivalent of the area covered by the city of Paris.
A death was confirmed in the village of Saint-Laurent-de-La-Cabrerisse, nine people were injured and at least one remains missing in the same village, as reported in a statement.
The Vila City Hall reported that the flames are “progressing quickly”, and that more than two thousand firefighters have been mobilized to contain the environmental disaster, which has already burned more than 25 houses. Several roads were closed by the authorities, and about 2,500 homes in the affected area are without electricity.
Southern France has faced a large amount of forest fires in this one of the hottest European summers. Europe is the most warming continent in the world, and experts warn of climate change, which continue to aggravate the frequency and intensity of heat and drought, increasing the possibility of environmental disasters.
