New fire in Europe: the historic Fontainebleau forest is burning
Located 60 kilometers from Paris, the fire has forced nearly a thousand people to evacuate their homes
A high-intensity fire has been raging since Sunday afternoon in the historic Fontainebleau forest, located just 60 kilometers from Paris. The fire originated on the side of a road in Seine-et-Marne and, driven by strong winds and high temperatures, has already devoured more than 800 hectares. Currently, five hundred French firefighters are working against the clock to contain flames that have already forced the evacuation of around 900 residents in less than 24 hours.
Its proximity to major infrastructure has caused disruptions in metropolitan transport. The flames and smoke have forced the closure of the A-6 motorway, which connects the French capital with Lyon and the south. High-speed train services heading to or from Gare de Lyon were also interrupted during Monday morning.
While firefighting teams work to extinguish the flames, authorities suggest that the fire could have been deliberately started. The French Minister of the Interior, Laurent Núñez, who has traveled to the area, stated that initial indications point to a criminal cause, as the flames did not originate in a single spot but emerged simultaneously in several locations spread across the territory.
The fire threatens a site with a strong ecological and historical component. The area devoured by the fire is part of a vast forest of 25,000 hectares surrounding the famous Palace of Fontainebleau, an epicenter of French national history that formerly served as a hunting lodge and autumn residence for the royal family.
An anomalous situation
The catastrophe is framed within a critical summer for Western Europe, which is suffering its third consecutive wave of extreme temperatures. The data confirm an anomalous situation: fires have already burned between 40% and 60% more square kilometers than the average recorded for this same period between 2006 and 2025.
Forest fires have already devastated regions of France, Spain, Portugal and Greece, and have carbonized thousands of hectares of land since the beginning of this July. Despite the existence of some fires caused by human intervention, the scientific community agrees in pointing to climate change as a determining factor in the increase in intensity and frequency of these large fires.
