Fire near Narbonne: 2,000 hectares of forest affected, A9 motorway still partially closed

A fire of rare intensity, which started on Monday, July 7, has swept through more than 2,000 hectares of forest near Narbonne, in the Aude department, leading to the partial closure of the A9 motorway and forcing residents of a hamlet to leave their homes, which had been damaged by the flames.

Up to 1,070 firefighters fought the blaze, including five who were "very slightly injured," the Aude prefecture wrote in a press release published at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday morning on X.

As of 6 a.m. on Tuesday, authorities were maintaining the lockdown measures in place in several neighborhoods in the south of Narbonne, in the hamlet of Prat-de-Cest (commune of Bages), and in Peyriac-de-Mer.

The fire "is still active ," state services warn, and traffic conditions "will remain very disrupted ." The A9 motorway, which links France to Spain along the Mediterranean, remains closed near Narbonne until further notice.

Five civilians were also "taken into care, including a child," and the flames damaged several houses and destroyed a workshop and a stable, the prefecture added. Although the tramontane wind is expected to weaken slightly on Tuesday, the risk of fire remains very high due to "weather conditions (...) quite similar" to those of Monday , Météo-France warned.

In the commune of Bages (Aude), which borders the A9 motorway, residents of the hamlet of Prat-de-Cest evacuated their homes for fear of the flames. "The hamlet was very badly affected, with several houses burning," the mayor, Jean-Louis Rio, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The seaside resort of Port-la-Nouvelle (Aude), about twenty kilometers from Bages, was without electricity for two hours, as high-voltage lines, threatened by the flames, were cut to facilitate the firefighters' action. "We can see flames coming down in the distance, there's smoke in Port-la-Nouvelle even though the fire is 20 kilometers away. It's quite impressive, it's the first time I've seen anything like this," the resort's mayor, Henri Martin, told AFP.

Many motorists found themselves trapped in gigantic traffic jams, with some resorting to spending the night in their cars. Some 150 people were housed at the Narbonne exhibition center, while others were housed in halls or gymnasiums in Sigean, Ferrals-des-Corbières, and Portel-des-Corbières.

The fire, which started on Monday around 3 p.m. in unknown circumstances at a wine estate located near the D613 departmental road in the Corbières massif, spread quickly, fanned by the tramontane wind, with gusts of wind blowing at 90 kilometers per hour, according to Adrien Warnan, a forecaster at Météo-France.