Riviera fire blazes on

2003-07-18 17:05

Saint Aygulf, France - More than 1&nsbp;000 firefighters battled a blaze ravaging the pine forests of the French Riviera for a second day on Friday, evacuating 8&nsbp;000 people, many of them campers.

The fire that devoured more than 9 000 hectares of Mediterranean pine trees along the Cote d'Azur was the biggest so far of the summer and the biggest in France's Var region since 1990, officials said.

Forest fires typically devastate wide swaths of the picturesque forests in the Riviera back country each summer, leaving behind vast stretches of charred landscape.

Some 1 300 firefighters using 300 vehicles worked to contain the blaze, which began on Thursday near Vidauban, some 60km east of Toulon. Moving at about 2km/h, the fire advanced by some 30km overnight, officials said.

It would have moved even faster "if it hadn't reached the sea," said Lieutenant Jean-Pierre Souza of the Operational Centre for Fire and Rescue.

The advancing fire destroyed some 40 vehicles, six bungalows and three homes, officials said. More than 8 000 people - campers and other tourists and residents - were evacuated to gymnasiums and public halls, said the region's top official, Pierre-Etienne Bisch.

By midafternoon, the blaze had yet to be contained, Bisch said.

Helicopters and Canadair planes were being brought in to douse flames with water. Bisch said firefighters were tracking the wind direction and speed, a crucial factor in containing the blaze.

It was the second time in days that campers have coped with disasters. A storm that devastated parts of France's southwest early on Tuesday killed five people, three of them campers. - Sapa-AP

- SAPA