Fontainebleau Forest Fire Burns 2,050 Hectares in Seine-et-Marne

A wildfire that began Sunday has burned 2,050 hectares, or 10 percent of vegetation, in the Fontainebleau forest southeast of Paris. Southern firefighters arrived Sunday evening with 10 personnel and two bulldozers from the Vaucluse department. Their sergeant, identified only as Franck, said the team had already built 2.8 kilometers of firebreaks overnight to protect houses.

The sergeant described the work as carving paths and widening existing routes to allow access into the forest while protecting property. He noted this was his northernmost mission in 21 years of service, after earlier deployments this summer to fires in Lançon and Die.

Exhausted crews rested in the shade along highway 63 near Le Vaudoué on Tuesday morning between missions. The fire had been circling villages in the Seine-et-Marne department since Sunday.