Four held over Fontainebleau wildfire as A6 stays shut
Firefighters have contained a massive wildfire near Paris that forced the closure of a key trade route and displaced 1,000 residents, as France grapples with a record year for fire damage.
The wildfire sweeping through the Fontainebleau forest was declared contained on Tuesday evening, though officials warned the blaze is far from extinguished. The fire has scorched around 2,050 hectares of the former royal hunting ground, mobilising more than 800 firefighters over several days. "Contained means they (the fires) are confined within their perimeter" but not "extinguished", said Pierre Ory, the local préfet.
The economic and public disruption has been significant. The main A6 motorway connecting Paris to the southeast was forced to shut down, with officials cautioning it would only reopen once the situation stabilised. Roughly 1,000 residents had to flee their homes, though authorities expect to allow them back by Wednesday.
The scale of the destruction strikes at a major natural and tourist asset. The forest covers 25,000 hectares and draws more than 15 million visitors annually, a popularity that, combined with sandy soil and highly flammable conifers, makes it uniquely vulnerable. Smoke from the blaze was reported up to 100 kilometres away near Orleans.
Prosecutors have taken four people into custody on suspicion of deliberately starting the fires, including a volunteer firefighter who has been suspended. Fontainebleau public prosecutor Diane Ngomsik said the volunteer admitted having "set fire to twigs with a lighter and gasoline", while a second suspect acknowledged "accidentally starting a fire by throwing his cigarette". The local fire service expressed its "deepest dismay" at the arrests.
The Fontainebleau blaze is part of a much wider crisis. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez noted that 32,000 hectares have been hit by fires across France since the beginning of the year, exceeding the total for the entire 2025 fire season. On Wednesday morning, 19 fires were burning nationwide, stretching from the southern coast to the typically cooler region of Brittany.
"The aerial resources played a decisive role in bringing these fires under control," Nunez wrote on X, referring to the nearly 300 water drops by Canadair aircraft over 48 hours. Météo France currently has 36 départements at elevated wildfire risk due to parched vegetation and heat, though temperatures are expected to cool from Thursday.
