The fire broke out in Vidauban on Tuesday afternoon and is still active. Hundreds of firefighters are currently engaged in the fight against the blaze

On Wednesday morning, despite the efforts of 500 firefighters mobilised throughout the night, some areas of the site of the fire that broke out the previous day in Vidauban, Var, remain inaccessible. The fire, which caught the fire brigade off guard, came after rainfall on Sunday, as the chairman of the Var fire brigade pointed out, surprised by the scale of the blaze: 600 hectares have already been destroyed and the fire is still not under control.

The fire brigade fears that the wind will intensify during the day, likely to fan the flames even further. The weather forecast is for gusts to return around midday. Having secured the homes and their occupants, their objective is now to contain the fire within its current limits, according to a situation update given on Wednesday morning. The Service départemental d’incendie et de secours (Sdis) du Var also pointed out that more than 1,200 square metres had been treated with the help of foresters and firefighters.

A further 289 firefighters from seven départements (Hérault, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Hautes-Alpes, Ardèche, Drôme, Vaucluse and Gard) arrived on Wednesday morning to lend a hand to the teams already on site, bringing the total number of firefighters mobilised to 600, supported by 190 engines. Two Canadair aircraft have been back in action since 7am, each with a tank capacity of up to 6,000 litres of water. A Dash, capable of carrying up to 10,000 litres of water, was also deployed.

No casualties were reported, but around a hundred people were evacuated as a precautionary measure. Most were able to return home on Wednesday morning. According to the President of the Sdis du Var, it will take several days to extinguish the fire once and for all. Route départementale 72 remains closed to traffic between Vidauban and Plan de la Tour, while route D48 is only accessible to local residents.