Worst forest fire ever in southwestern France extinguished in two months... Highest damage in 77 years

The largest damage area in 77 years since 1949... 224,000 people evacuated

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Kwak Min-seo = AFP reported on the 28th (local time) that the worst forest fire ever to ravage southwestern France was finally extinguished after continuing for more than two months.

Fire authorities announced in a statement today that the forest fire that started in the Gironde region of southwestern France in July was completely extinguished after about two months.

The fire burned 42,000 hectares (420 km2) of nearby forest areas and forced 224,000 people to evacuate.

The area damaged was the largest in 77 years since a forest fire in 1949, which burned about 50,000 hectares (500 km2) in the same area.

As the threat continued to the Cap-Pere peninsula, a famous resort, and the outskirts of Bordeaux, a world-class wine producing region, the number of evacuees further increased.

More than 3,300 firefighters were mobilized to extinguish the fire, which officials said was the largest firefighting operation in modern French history.

The large fire was extinguished early last month, but the fire extinguishing process was delayed as embers remaining underground did not go out for several weeks.

In France, forest fires have occurred in places other than the Gironde this year, and it is tentatively calculated that a total of 98,000 hectares (980㎢) have been burned so far.

The total damaged area was the largest since 1976.