China News Agency, Paris, August 17 (Reporter Li Yang) The southeastern region of France is encountering a forest fire. The fire is still not under control, and thousands of people have been evacuated.

French President Macron visited the fire-hit area on the 17th local time.

  According to an official preliminary report, the forest fire occurred in the Var province in southeastern France, very close to the Mediterranean resort of Saint-Tropez. The fire area has exceeded 5,000 hectares. The specific time of the fire should be the afternoon of the 16th.

  Agence France-Presse reported that the fire originally started near a highway in the Var province. As the highway passed through a nature reserve 30 kilometers north of Saint-Tropez, the trunks of many local trees had been burned and their branches Basically intact, indicating that the fire spread rapidly.

  A spokesperson for the Var Provincial Fire Department said on the 17th that as a precautionary measure, thousands of people have been evacuated.

Officials ask people not to occupy the emergency highway when evacuating.

The evacuated people also included many tourists who were on vacation in the local area.

  French President Macron visited the fire-hit area on the 17th and met with firefighters who were participating in the firefighting to learn about the latest situation.

There are currently more than 900 firefighters involved in the fire fighting, trying to control the fire, Macron thanked them.

Three firefighters were injured in the firefighting process, and no people have been injured or killed in the fire.

  Macron said that the "worst case" of the fire should have been avoided, but he emphasized that the fire is still unstable and the next few hours will be decisive for controlling the fire.

He said that in the next few weeks, he must be very vigilant about potential fires.

  Officials of the Var province believe that the current weather conditions are still prone to fires, especially drought, extreme heat and high winds will cause firefighters to face challenges in extinguishing fires.

The local fire department has dispatched several seaplanes to participate in the fire fighting.

  Since the beginning of this year, fires have broken out in many countries around the Mediterranean, including Greece, Turkey, Algeria, and Morocco.

Some scientists believe that due to global warming caused by climate change, such seasonal fires may occur more frequently.

(Finish)