Red alert for forest fire risk in southern France

The Bouches-du-Rhône département, which contains France's second largest city, Marseille, will be placed on red alert (the highest risk level) for forest fires on Tuesday, according to Météo France's new wildfire warning service, Météo des Forêts.

This is the first time the new service has put a French département on red alert since it was introduced in June.

The red alert means that weather conditions in Bouches-du-Rhône "make the risk of forest and vegetation fires starting and spreading very high compared with normal summer conditions", according to the Météo France website.

READ MORE: How to check the forest fire risk in your part of France

The service is part of the Météo France website, and it updates a map of mainland France each afternoon, colour-coding the départements based on their risk of forest fire: Green (low risk), Yellow (moderate risk), Orange (high risk) and Red (very high risk). It gives the prediction for that day and the day following. 

A map by Météo France of forest fire risk

On Tuesday, two other départements: Vaucluse and the Var, also in southern France, have been placed on 'orange' alert.

As well as warning the general public to be aware, the alert system also allows local authorities to put fire-prevention methods in place.

Several national parks and massifs in the region have been closed to the public in order to prevent wildfires - the vast majority of which are started by human actions such as discarded cigarettes or glass.

Additionally, a 79-strong contingent of firefighters and several vehicles from the Paris region have been sent south as a precautionary measure, according to France Bleu.

The weather forecaster uses criteria including rain, humidity, air temperature, wind strength, dryness of the vegetation, local terrain and species of vegetation in order to assign a risk level - similar to the existing Indice forêt météo (Forest Weather Index, or FMI), which was developed in Canada in the late 1970s and estimates the possibility of a fire outbreak and its potential for spread.

READ MORE: Wildfire prevention: The legal obligations for French property owners

The goals of the new fire forecasting device is to educate the French public and to help limit the number of people entering forests during periods of high-risk - in 2022 it was estimated that 90 percent of the forest fires were started by humans, most accidentally.

As of Monday, several parts of France remained under drought alerts, with water restrictions in place, as approximately 79.5 percent of the country's water tables were below normal levels for the season, according to calculations by Franceinfo.

The fire warning comes as Greece battles huge wildfires on the island of Rhodes, leading to thousands of evacuations. France has sent firefighters and fire-fighting planes to Greece to help with the containment operation.