Firefighters battle Fontainebleau forest fire near Paris as two arrested

PARIS – Firefighters battled through the night to tackle a blaze that tore through a historic forest near Paris on July 14, with at least two people arrested on suspicion of having started the fire near one of France’s best-known royal palaces.

“It is not under control,” Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said late on July 13, adding that the main blaze in Fontainebleau and another one nearby that started the same afternoon had scorched 1,300ha.

Nunez said the fire was just a few kilometres away from the Palace of Fontainebleau, which explained the deployment of considerable resources, including water-carrying planes and helicopters.

For the first time, Canadair aircraft on July 13 skimmed the River Seine to fill their tanks, attempting to contain a blaze that turned the sky black.

Just 70km from Paris, the fire forced the closure of the A6 highway linking the capital with Lyon and the south. Smaller fires in the area also disrupted high-speed train services.

As many as 900 people were evacuated from their homes.

Nunez said the Fontainebleau blaze is contributing to what will likely be a historic year for fires in France, with 32,000ha burned already in 2026, more than the total in 2025.

“We’ll probably have a record year,” he said. “We expected this with this major drought.”

Europe is enduring its third heatwave of the summer, with tinder-dry vegetation and high temperatures fuelling blazes from the Iberian Peninsula to France. Many scientists say climate change is making wildfires more frequent and difficult to combat.

Nunez said 59 people have been arrested on suspicion of starting fires across the country. Around half were adults and half minors, with some repeat offenders, he said. REUTERS