A forest fire reaches Marseille, forcing residents to remain in confinement and the airport to close.

ParisA forest fire that broke out Tuesday morning reached the city of Marseille in the early afternoon, forcing the lockdown of neighborhoods, the evacuation of 450 residents, and the closure of the city's airport, the fourth largest in France. The fire started in a nearby town when a vehicle caught fire on the highway, but quickly spread through the mountains to Marseille, where more than 720 firefighters are working to prevent the flames from spreading to buildings. So far, no deaths or serious injuries have been prevented.

At least 10 homes, five of them in Marseille, have been affected by the fire. Northbound rail traffic, including high-speed trains in Paris, was disrupted due to the fire's proximity to the tracks, the SNCF reported.

The strong mistral wind, temperatures above 30°C, and dry vegetation have contributed to the rapid spread of the flames, which have so far spread across 700 hectares. Marseille's prefect, Georges-François Leclerc, asked residents of the 16th arrondissement to self-isolate, activated a crisis unit, and urged other citizens to avoid unnecessary travel: "I ask the population to stay home; firefighters are defending the city." Four hundred residents have also been evacuated, those in the houses closest to the fire.

Confined children and a hospital without electricity

Firefighters have also evacuated businesses and confined children from summer camps. The city council has prepared sports centers in case more residents need to be evacuated in the coming hours. A total of 877,000 residents have been left without power, as has a hospital, which has been forced to use generators to continue operating normally.

Despite the lockdown in the 16th arrondissement, an area surrounded by hills, some residents have chosen to leave their homes. "I saw the fire, I was scared, and I decided to leave," one resident told the newspaper. Provence"We see the fire, it's horrible, we're scared. It's a catastrophe, it's unbreathable, we can't go outside," another Marseille resident explained on BFMTV. "We have to close in, seal the doors, and put down towels. It's truly unbreathable, it's an atrocity, I've never seen anything like it," the woman said.

Firefighters were called to Les Pennes-Mirabeau around 10:50 a.m., in an area near the A-552 motorway, at the junction between the A-55 and A-7 motorways, which were also closed to traffic. This is where a vehicle caught fire and the fire began to spread. Marseille-Provence Airport was closed due to the proximity of the fire to the runways and takeoffs, while the Saint-Charles train station suspended all routes to the north and southwest.

In addition, in the Narbonne area, another fire that started yesterday has burned some 2,000 hectares and left a dozen injured. In Narbonne, authorities have recommended that residents of two neighborhoods stay indoors. This Monday, this fire forced the closure of the A-9 motorway, which connects to Catalonia along the Mediterranean coast. The entire French Mediterranean coast has been on alert since the weekend due to the risk of forest fires.