France records nearly 11,000 fires as area burned already exceeds 2025 total

France has recorded nearly 11,000 fires since the beginning of the year, with around 35,000 hectares burned, already exceeding the total area destroyed during the whole of last year's fire season, Civil Protection Director General Julien Marion said on Thursday.

"It means that for the past three weeks, firefighters across the country have been dealing with between 250 and 300 fires simultaneously," Marion said during President Emmanuel Macron's visit to the Fontainebleau Forest.

Marion said each of the three active wildfires have exceeded 1,000 hectares despite the large-scale deployment of firefighting resources.

He added that the wildfire risk is no longer confined to southern France, noting that around 50 departments are now listed as high-risk forest areas, including Cotes-d'Armor in Brittany and Seine-et-Marne near Paris.

According to Marion, the expansion of high-risk zones has forced authorities to spread firefighting resources across a much wider area, creating additional operational challenges.

According to the National Forest Office, France recorded nearly 15,000 fires in 2025, affecting around 30,000 hectares of forests and other vegetation.

Of those, about 1,800 were classified as forest fires, burning nearly 20,000 hectares, including a major blaze in the Corbieres mountain range in the southern Aude department in August.

Referring to the investigation into the Fontainebleau fire, which authorities say was deliberately started, Macron said several suspects had already been apprehended.

"The message is clear: nothing will be let go," he said, pledging "zero tolerance" for those responsible for starting fires.

Macron also stated that France collaborated with five other European nations to place a joint order for Canadair aircraft, noting that this collective effort successfully restarted production after it had been halted.

France currently operates 12 Canadair water bombers and eight Dash aircraft.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the fleet expands to around 40 aircraft with the addition of leased planes and water-bombing helicopters.