Sawt Falasteen - Huge fire rages in Fontainebleau forest near Paris

The fire, which officials described as "very virulent" and of "exceptional scale", began late afternoon in the sprawling Fontainebleau forest about 60 kilometres (40 miles) south-east of the capital, a onetime royal hunting preserve that today is dotted with quiet villages.

It had raced across 800 hectares and was still spreading, officials said early Monday, causing the partial closure of the A6 highway, the country's main north-south artery.

And with nightfall, firefighting aircraft had been forced to suspend their operations.

Around 15 homes had been evacuated in the nearby village of Vaudoue and firefighters were defending several other towns in the area, said the local Seine-et-Marne fire service.

Residents anxiously gathered in the village, watching emergency vehicles race past and making calls to try to find out if their homes were still at risk.

Evacuated residents Valerie and her husband Daniel described the moment authorities and firefighters told them to leave their home.

"We could see the ash falling," Valerie told AFP, sitting outside near the war memorial in Vaudoue, unsure where they would sleep.

"We put the cats and dogs in the car... we could see the fire on both sides," she said.

Without the firefighting planes, other villages would already have been evacuated, said Olivier Compta, who is overseeing the firefighting operation.

Around 400 firefighters worked to contain the flames, which erupted just ahead of the July 14 national holiday and on the first major weekend for departures for the summer holiday season.

Traffic was disrupted along highways in the area, as well as along the high-speed rail line leading to the south-east of the country.

Eric Brocardi, of France's national federation of firemen, said it was the first time fire bomber planes had been sent up from the normally drier and hotter south of the country to extinguish fires in the Paris region.

Two firefighting helicopters and an observation aircraft were also helping to fight the blaze, he added.

"The aim is to save lives and property," he said later, as the fire advanced.

Earlier, firefighters dealt with a fire that had blocked a highway running east from Paris and disrupted a high-speed train line to the south of France.

- Third heatwave -

French rail company SNCF said on Sunday evening there were delays of up to six hours for trains arriving at or leaving from Paris's Gare de Lyon.

At the station, 34-year-old physiotherapist Kelly took the delay in stride.

"It's global warming," she said. "It's the disruption of the seasons...there are political decisions to be taken."

The Paris region -- and large parts of the rest of France -- is currently experiencing the third heatwave since May, increasing the risk of fires.

The three heatwaves have seen temperature records broken in several countries across Europe and have caused thousands of excess deaths, according to estimates in Belgium, Britain, France and Spain.

The June heatwaves would have been "virtually impossible" without climate change, the World Weather Attribution group of scientists said.

Several other European countries have faced record-breaking average temperatures.

In France, the heatwave has also led officials to shut down three of the country's nuclear power stations.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, whose office announced he would visit Fontainebleau on Monday, said that forest fires had already consumed 17,000 hectares this year.

Once the figures had all been tallied, that would come to 25,000 hectares -- "twice as much as the same period" in 2025, he added.

U.Shaheen--SF-PST