162 PEOPLE ARRESTED FOR ARSON SINCE 6 JULY

PARIS, JULY 27 /SRNA/ - French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said that 162 people have been arrested for arson since 6 July.

"Nine out of 10 fires are caused by human activity and result from negligence," Lecornu stressed, adding that an intensive search is underway for those responsible for the arsons.

Around 116,000 hectares of land have burned in France this year, an area roughly 11 times larger than Paris, Sky News reported.

A major wildfire in southwestern France has destroyed around 42,000 hectares, an area four times larger than Paris, according to data from the Gironde prefecture.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told reporters today that firefighters in Gironde are facing an unprecedented situation, battling a fire that "has a life of its own," the BBC reported.

Speaking after a government crisis meeting, he warned that weather conditions and the composition of the forests were causing the wildfire to behave in a completely unpredictable manner.

"It is autonomous, self-sustaining and spreading in all directions. In other words, it is a fire that is difficult to control," Nuñez said.

According to him, 40,000 hectares of land have already burned, nearly twice the total area affected by wildfires in Gironde in 2022.