A rare forest fire broke out on Saturday afternoon in the Saint-Amand forest in the Nord department, burning five hectares of vegetation, according to the fire service.
Throughout yesterday afternoon, around 40 firefighters were attempting to extinguish this fire in this forest, which is very popular with people from the Nord region at weekends, in a heavily urbanised area (453 ha/km² according to INSEE). No injuries have been reported and no infrastructure is under threat in this woodland situated between Lille and Valenciennes.
"With global warming, forest fires are becoming more widespread across the region: previously, they were specific to the Mediterranean basin and Bordeaux," a spokesperson for the Nord Departmental Fire and Rescue Operations Centre (Codis) told AFP. “Over the past ten years or so, forest fires have started to become a significant issue in Brittany and the Centre region; we are occasionally faced with this type of operation, which requires specific training. In 2017, there was also a fire of this type,” he added, noting that the emergency services around the Saint-Amand forest had been specifically trained to deal with this risk.