Sawt Falasteen - Marseille residents return to burnt out homes after wildfire

More than 1,000 firefighters were needed to control the blaze that regional authorities said was still not completely out late Wednesday.

Fanned by winds and weeks without significant rainfall, 76 homes were left uninhabitable and dozens more damaged, the regional prefecture said. Some 750 hectares 1,800 acres) of land was turned to cinders.

Some 400 people fled their homes and at one stage 15,000 residents of northern Marseille, France's second city, were told to stay indoors to avoid the smoke.

A vehicle that caught fire is reported to have caused the inferno at Pennes-Mirabeau, just north of the city on Tuesday evening. Thierry Heraud, one of the first residents to see his house threatened, said it had been like a "massacre", the fire had spread so quickly.

Authorities had to close Marseille airport for several hours and called in helicopters to dump water on the burning scrub. Train lines and motorways around Marseille were also closed and only resumed Wednesday.

- 'High risk summer' -

The small Mediterranean fishing port of Estaque suffered most damage with houses destroyed and burned cars left in roads. Bicycles left in one garden were twisted by the intense heat.

Joelle Marrot, 78, said one side of her house had been burned but she looked across the garden to see the neighbouring house completely gutted. "There is no roof, it's horrible", she said.

Dominique Russo, 59, had only just finished refurbishing his house in Estaque, and as the flames loomed he had to get his 93-year-old mother out to safety. Russo said he threw buckets of water onto his house through the night, even using water from his goldfish pond.

While no deaths were reported, authorities said about 40 members of the public, 20 firefighters and 26 police were treated for smoke inhalation.

According to weather data, France was among European countries to see the hottest June on record and many authorities fear more fires.

"There's every reason to believe that we're heading for a high-risk summer," warned Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau on Tuesday.

Along the Mediterranean coast in an area near the city of Narbonne, firefighters fought to stamp out a blaze that had spread across 2,100 hectares since Monday.

Nearby firefighters also battled two other major wildfires that had devastated nearly 1,000 hectares of terrain.

Scientists say human-induced climate change is increasing the intensity, length and frequency of extreme heat that fuels forest fires.

S.Barghouti--SF-PST