A raging forest fire in southwest France has burned through more than 1,500 hectares — roughly 5.8 square miles — and is now threatening to disrupt the Tour de France’s third stage scheduled for Monday. The planned finish line in Les Angles sits only about 60 kilometers away from the active blaze.
Local officials announced Sunday that a final call on whether to cancel the stage would come “before the end of the day.” Race director Christian Prudhomme had already indicated earlier that organizers could modify the route if conditions required it.
The fire is burning in the Pyrenees-Orientales department, where crews are working to hold back a fire front stretching 18 kilometers — more than 11 miles. The response effort has involved approximately 750 firefighters, 200 vehicles, and nine water-bombing helicopters along with additional aircraft, according to the departmental prefect.
No fatalities have been reported, though two individuals — one firefighter and one local resident — are in critical condition. Emergency crews are focused on keeping the fire from pushing southward toward the Tet river and the Aspres mountain area, a dry and difficult-to-access region.
France’s national weather service, Meteo France, classified seven departments in the country’s south as having a “very high fire risk” on Sunday.
The Tour de France launched in Barcelona, Spain on Saturday, and the first two stages were held in Spain’s Catalonia region, where a separate wildfire also caused concern. That blaze scorched approximately 2,200 hectares of forest in Les Gavarres before being stabilized, officials said Sunday. However, elevated temperatures and lingering smoke could still complicate full containment efforts.
Authorities believe that fire, which ignited Friday along Catalonia’s Costa Brava coastline, was started by a worker operating a circular saw near a roadway, with sparks setting off the blaze. A suspect was taken into custody on Friday.
Extreme heat and wildfire conditions have spread across much of Europe, raising significant safety questions for one of cycling’s most celebrated annual events.
