France puts out massive fire that torched 42,000 hectares and smouldered for 69 days

A wildfire that scorched 42,000 hectares in southwest France has finally been declared extinguished, more than two months after the country's largest blaze since 1949 broke out, authorities said Monday.

The fire erupted in July near the village of Saumos in the Gironde region and forced the evacuation of around 224,000 people as it threatened both the tourist peninsula of Cap-Ferret and the outskirts of Bordeaux.

"The Saumos forest fire, which burned 42,000 hectares this summer, including 37,296 hectares destroyed, is now extinguished," state services wrote in a statement, adding no deaths had been reported.

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The blaze was put under control on August 1, but continued to smoulder underground for weeks before finally being declared out.

More than 3,300 firefighters took part in the operation, which officials described as the largest firefighting effort in modern French civil security history.

The blaze was the largest recorded in France since a 1949 wildfire in the same region that burned about 50,000 hectares.

France has seen around 98,000 hectares destroyed by wildfires this year, the highest level since 1976, according to provisional figures.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)