Firefighting planes scrambled from south of France to tackle huge wildfire near Paris
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- Fontainebleau forest wildfire began Sunday afternoon about 40 miles (60km) southeast of Paris, raced across roughly 800 hectares (2,000 acres), and was still spreading early Monday, with officials warning containment could take days to weeks
- Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said approximately 900 homes were evacuated with no injuries or homes burned, and noted the fire ignited at around 10 separate points — a pattern he said 'would suggest it could have been voluntary in origin'
- Firefighting planes were scrambled from southern France to the Paris region for the first time ever, according to Eric Brocardi of France's national federation of firefighters, joining roughly 400 firefighters, two helicopters, and an observation aircraft
- Half of Le Vaudoué's 700 residents were evacuated; the A6 highway was partially closed and SNCF trains faced delays of up to eight hours at Paris's Gare de Lyon before services returned to normal Monday morning
- France has burned 32,000 hectares in forest fires so far this year as of July 13 — already exceeding the entire 2025 season — with 44 people arrested nationwide since summer began on suspicion of starting blazes
- The Paris region remains under France's highest heatwave alert, and the World Weather Attribution group of scientists said June heatwaves across Europe would have been 'virtually impossible' without human-caused climate change
Why it matters: Wildfire risk has reached the doorstep of Paris — the Fontainebleau fire triggered the first-ever deployment of firefighting planes from southern France to the Paris region, and France has already burned more forest this year (32,000 hectares by July 13) than the entire 2025 season. With arson suspected (10 ignition points, 44 summer arrests) and the Paris region under top-tier heatwave alerts just two days before Bastille Day, the capital itself is now squarely in the fire zone.
