Firefighting planes scrambled from south of France to tackle huge wildfire near Paris

Firefighting planes have been scrambled from the south of France to battle a wildfire of what officials are calling exceptional scale in the Fontainebleau forest, south-east of Paris. The Guardian reports that the blaze, which broke out late on Sunday afternoon roughly forty miles from the capital, has forced the evacuation of nine hundred homes and disrupted both road and rail links. Unusually close to Paris, the fire raced across about eight hundred hectares of the former royal hunting preserve and was still spreading early on Monday.

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