LEGE-CAP FERRET – Fire crews in southwest France held the line against a massive wildfire overnight Tuesday, stamping out flare-ups near the Atlantic coast’s dune areas as hotter, drier conditions threatened to put their progress under renewed pressure.
The Gironde prefecture said the fire was still considered stabilized at 6 a.m. following a relatively calm night, with the burned zone unchanged at 420 square kilometers (162 square miles).
Authorities reported several overnight flare-ups north of Le Porge and in dune terrain north of Cap Ferret, but said firefighters moved quickly to contain them.
The affected areas sit along the Atlantic coast west of Bordeaux, where emergency teams have been fighting the blaze since it broke out near Saumos last week.
The wildfire has proven volatile since igniting, at times intensifying into a self-sustaining firestorm as it tore through land roughly four times the size of Paris and prompted 220,000 people to evacuate their homes.
While the fire’s forward movement has been stopped for now, officials have warned that smoldering vegetation, combined with falling humidity, could quickly spark new outbreaks.
Early Tuesday, firefighters and military engineers returned to building tactical firebreaks aimed at blocking any renewed spread. Authorities said crews had carved out 103 kilometers (64 miles) of protective barriers.
The prefecture said 93 firefighters have been injured during the operation.
A section of the A63 highway remained closed, while rail traffic south of Bordeaux was suspended except on the route toward Toulouse.
The cautious progress in Gironde came as thousands of people began returning home after a separate wildfire in the neighboring Landes region displaced more than 30,000 residents and vacationers.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday evening that the Landes fire had been contained.
