A violent fire has already covered more than 3,500 hectares in the forests of the Var, in the south of France.
Thousands of residents and tourists had to be evacuated and temporarily housed in municipal halls.
Thousands of people including tourists were evacuated preventively in the Var due to a violent forest fire fought by hundreds of firefighters since Monday in the hinterland of Saint-Tropez.
"Thousands of people have been evacuated as a preventive measure, but there are no victims. Some 750 firefighters are fighting against this fire which is still very virulent," according to a spokesperson for the Var firefighters.
The evacuations took place in the hinterland of Cavalaire and Saint-Tropez, especially around the villages of Grimaud or La Môle, said Commander Delphine Vienco.
3,500 hectares of forest and scrubland
The prefecture of Var has also confirmed the evacuation of several campsites and asked "not to clutter the roads around the Gulf of Saint-Tropez" to let the rescue work.
People are welcomed in municipal halls in the region.
The fire that broke out on Monday at the Sigues motorway area on the A57, about one hundred kilometers north-east of Toulon, had covered 3,500 hectares of forest and scrubland in the Massif des Moors, Tuesday morning, according to firefighters.
"This is the area covered but it is too early to estimate the area burned," said the firefighters who are resuming the water drops by plane and helicopter in addition to the ground control means.
"It's a very difficult fight"
"The conditions are unfavorable with a strong wind and high temperatures," they said.
"The fire is very large and is spreading at a speed of four kilometers per hour, it is a very difficult fight", according to the commander Delphine Vienco.
Firefighters came to reinforce several departments in the South-East of France.
"We managed to prevent the fire from touching La Garde-Freinet during the night", a village located in the Massif des Maures, about twenty kilometers from Saint-Tropez.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin must visit the area during the day.
An area affected by fires every year
Many Mediterranean countries have been affected by serious fires this summer, Greece, Italy, Algeria, Spain, Morocco. The South-East of France, usually very affected by fires in the summer had been relatively spared so far but this fire is one of the most important of the summer and could prove to be as destructive as the one which affected the mountain of Alaric in the Aude at the end of July. The biggest fire of the summer in France, it had devastated some 850 hectares in total according to the latest report.
Last year, a fire ravaged 1,000 hectares in Martigues, west of Marseille, in a very touristy area. At least 2,700 people, including many tourists, had to be evacuated, some by sea. The mistral that arrived in Provence on Monday fed several other fires at the entrance to the Calanques national park near Marseille, or in the Var again , on the Giens peninsula, but these fires were brought under control. Preventively, all of the 25 forest massifs of Bouches-du-Rhône are prohibited from access on Tuesday, as are the massifs of the Toulon mountains in the Var.