RECORD NUMBER OF FOREST FIRES SINCE WORLD WAR II

PARIS, JULY 16 /SRNA/ - France has faced a record number of forest fires this summer, the highest since the end of the Second World War, French President Emmanuel Macron said.

"Our country has never faced such a large number of fires. We have never experienced such a situation since the end of the Second World War," Macron said during a visit to the municipality of Fontainebleau near Paris, where more than 2,000 hectares of forest are burning.

Forest fires broke out in France as a result of an exceptional heatwave that spread across the country.

At the end of June, the country's meteorological service issued a severe weather warning for 72 of the 96 departments. This set a new record. Temperatures approached 40 degrees Celsius, and in some areas they were even higher.