Fontainebleau forest to reopen after wildfire

Fontainebleau forest southeast of Paris is set to reopen most of its area to the public this weekend after a July wildfire scorched about 2,000 hectares, a local official said Friday.

Benoit Kaplan, a deputy prefect of the Seine-et-Marne area, said 80 percent of the forest would be able to reopen and be safely accessible on Saturday. One area will remain closed for now.

The fire burned about 5,000 acres, or around 10 percent of the former royal hunting ground. Public access has been restricted since the blaze.

Kaplan said firefighters were still working daily to extinguish hotspots inside a roughly 4,000-hectare restricted area, half of which was directly affected by flames and half of which serves as a buffer zone.

He urged visitors to stay on designated walking paths. Barbecues and smoking are prohibited to prevent parched vegetation from catching fire.

The Fontainebleau forest, about 60 kilometres southeast of Paris, draws hikers, nature lovers and climbers known for visiting its boulders. France has faced three heatwaves in quick succession during a historically hot European summer marked by drought and wildfires linked in the supplied material to global warming.