A fire sparked by a burning car scorches 720 hectares near Marseille, injuring over 110 and grounding flights
More than 110 people have been injured and thousands displaced after a massive wildfire erupted on the outskirts of Marseille, plunging France’s southern coast into chaos. Officials say the fire was triggered by a car that caught alight on a motorway near Les Pennes-Mirabeau—an ordinary roadside incident that escalated into one of the region’s most severe fire emergencies in recent years.
As plumes of black smoke blanketed the skies and flames licked dangerously close to homes, hospitals, and infrastructure, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau confirmed the scale of the disaster during a grim site visit on Tuesday evening.
“The fire is not yet fixed,” he warned. “Although injuries are minor, the danger remains present.”
By 6pm UK time, more than 720 hectares of land had been scorched, with at least 20 buildings damaged or destroyed. Among the worst-hit areas were neighbourhoods just north of Marseille, where residents were forced to flee as walls of fire surged toward their properties.
“We had 10 minutes to grab what we could and get out,” said one evacuee. “The sky turned orange, and ash was falling like snow.”
Marseille’s mayor Benoît Payan likened the situation to “guerrilla warfare”, saying firefighters were battling the elements as much as the flames.
“It’s a battle. Everything is strategic—wind speed, humidity, nightfall,” he said. “It’s incredibly complex, and the work is grueling.”
More than 1,000 firefighters have been deployed to contain the blaze, joined by aerial water bombers and helicopters. Yet high temperatures and dry gusting winds have hampered efforts, and authorities say conditions are expected to worsen in the coming days.
The impact has rippled across the region. Marseille Provence Airport—the fourth busiest in France—was forced to suspend all flights. The city’s Hospital Nord had to switch to generators following repeated power cuts. And air quality has plunged, with monitoring agency AtmoSud reporting particulate concentrations 10 times the legal limit due to smoke exposure.
The blaze, which started with a single burning vehicle, has reignited fears about the increasing scale and intensity of wildfires sweeping across the Mediterranean.
In recent days, similar fires have erupted in Spain, Greece, Turkey, and Syria, fuelled by scorching early-summer heat and prolonged drought conditions. Last week, wildfires in southern Crete forced more than 1,500 people to evacuate, while blazes near Athens prompted emergency shutdowns and airlift rescues.
“This is not a one-off anymore,” said Martine Vassal, president of the Aix-Marseille-Provence area. “Climate change is turning our summers into tinderboxes.”
Authorities in Marseille have opened emergency shelters for evacuees, and health officials have urged residents in surrounding districts to remain indoors and wear masks when outside. As night fell on Tuesday, the blaze was still active, and emergency crews continued to battle flare-ups across rough terrain.
While no fatalities have been reported, concern is mounting over the health of displaced residents and the long-term damage to ecosystems. Wildlife organisations say the fire has already affected several habitats near the Rhône delta and endangered local species.
As dawn breaks over a blackened hillside, the question for Marseille and much of southern Europe is no longer whether these fires will come—but how to survive them.
