Var. A fire has covered 70 hectares, residents evacuated

A fire broke out on Monday in a mountain range in the Var region, covering 70 hectares in the small town of Pontevès, where around thirty residents were evacuated as a precaution, according to emergency services and the prefecture.

The fire broke out shortly before 12:30 p.m. on the slopes of Petit Bessillon, a popular hiker's mountain range near the hilltop village of Pontevès, where some 760 residents were ordered to stay indoors.

Some 300 firefighters, including reinforcements from the Île-de-France region, were mobilized, assisted by four Canadairs, two Dash aircraft, three water-bombing helicopters, and 125 ground vehicles. Reinforcements from the gendarmerie and the National Forestry Office (ONF) are also present on the scene. "The situation has calmed down, but the fire is still not under control," a firefighter spokesperson told AFP shortly after 7 p.m. "Air resources will be brought back to the ground with the arrival of nightfall, but we will maintain a drone team," he added.

"Around thirty residents were evacuated as a precaution by the municipality in Pontevès," the Var prefect reported on X. "No homes are threatened," the firefighters, however, specified.

After several days of heatwaves, the orange alert is expected to be lifted at 6 a.m. Tuesday in the Var region, according to Météo-France, which predicts thunderstorms in the late morning. Most of the department's heavily wooded mountain ranges were classified as at high fire risk on Monday and will remain so on Tuesday, according to the prefecture.