By Canadian Press

Wildfires spare Marseille in France, but danger high nearby

Aug 10, 2016 | 7:30 PM

MARSEILLE, France — Firefighters in southern France brought in reinforcements from across the country on Thursday to help smother the last flames and douse dry brush after wind-whipped wildfires devastated thousands of acres and destroyed homes but spared Marseille, the nation’s second-largest city.

There was no letup in the high southern winds, known as the Mistral, raising the risk of new bursts of flames after the worst blaze in recent years was contained.

Meanwhile, a fire broke out Thursday in the Pyrenees-Orientales region, southwest of Marseille.

Multiple fires started up on Wednesday, west and north of Marseille, and President Francois Hollande said some were of criminal origin. “We will find those who started them,” he said, but did not elaborate.

A man behaving suspiciously in Vitrolles, one of the towns most ravaged by flames, was detained for questioning, according to French media.

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Fires were burning in Portugal and Spain. Two arrests were made in the deadliest of more than 100 fires in Portugal, on the island of Madeira, that killed three people.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said four people were seriously injured — a resident of the Marseille region and three firemen who battled a blaze on Wednesday in the nearby Herault region. More than 3,000 hectares of vegetation were destroyed in the Marseille area, the Herault and the Pyrenees-Orientales regions.

Residents of the region north of Marseille, especially Vitrolles and nearby Pennes-Mirabeau, woke up to take an accounting of the scorched and still-smoking landscape and their losses. More than 1,000 had spent the night in gymnasiums.

“Today, at this time, the fire is, as we say, mastered. That means that it is not expanding any more there are no visible flames,” said Vice-Admiral Charles-Henri Garrier, commander of Marseille’s firefighter battalion, speaking near Vitrolles, just 25 kilometres (15 miles) north of Marseille.

“Anyway, if you go and walk in the ash behind me, you may walk on embers. And those embers, with the wind going stronger … may spark the fire again, cross the crest and put the fire in the pinewood behind you.”

Flight delays continued Thursday evening at Marseille’s airport which had rerouted incoming flights on Wednesday to cope with firefighting aircraft. Major highways had been closed to make way for firefighters, and to keep drivers from danger.

Fire battalions from as far away as northern France were driving their heavy engines and other equipment to the Marseille region to help some 2,500 firefighters with the critical aftermath.

In Portugal, firefighters also battled multiple fires for a sixth straight day. A total of 186 wildfires were counted Wednesday on Portugal’s mainland alone and on Thursday, 12 were burning out of control.

In Spain, authorities said five major fires were raging in the northwestern region of Galicia, with 10 others under control.

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Margaid Quioc in Marseille contributed to this report.

The Associated Press