The fire erupted on Sunday in the sprawling Fontainebleau forest, a former royal hunting estate that today is dotted with quiet villages, about 60 kilometres southeast of the capital.
As the region sweltered through its latest heatwave, the wildfire – rare in the north of the country – quickly spread across the Unesco biosphere reserve, disrupting rail and road traffic during a busy holiday travel long weekend.
Throughout the day, aircraft in the skies and firefighters on the ground were trying to douse the flames.
By Monday afternoon, it had raced across almost 1,200 hectares, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said. He said a second fire broke out on Monday afternoon and had ravaged about 100 hectares. Around 1,000 people in and around Fontainebleau had been evacuated.
One of the two suspects arrested is an 18-year-old man without a criminal record. His hands were covered in soot and he had a lighter when he was detained, according to a source close to the case.
Clement Boher, a 37-year-old resident, said he and his family had been on alert since he saw plumes of smoke rise about the forest on Sunday night.
“Like everyone else, we’re on standby, vehicles ready and a backpack packed. All we can do is wait,” he said.
The scale of the fire led to the deployment of four Canadair aircraft – an unprecedented move in the greater Paris region – as well as two Dash planes and three water-bombing helicopters.
A total of 187 water drops were carried out, said the commander of the rescue operations, Jean-Marc Sicard, on site on Monday evening.
At nightfall, around 600 firefighters remained mobilised and would be taking turns to fight the flames on the ground, he said.
“The fire is still spreading” because the weather conditions were “not very favourable” on Monday evening, despite “a brief lull,” he said.
Nunez said on an evening television news show that 59 people had been arrested across France and two in connection with the Fontainebleau fire for “deliberate or accidental arson”.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on X that all available resources had been deployed to fight what he described as “an exceptionally large wildfire”.
Nunez said authorities were investigating whether the fire was started intentionally.
“There were about 10 fire ignition points within a perimeter of 1,000 metres, which suggests that it could have been deliberately set,” he said.
France is weathering a third heatwave in less than three months, with fires raging in several parts of the country over the past week.
The country recorded more than 2,000 excess deaths during the June heatwave, and 300 during the high temperatures in late May, according to official figures. (AFP)
