Macron pledges ‘zero tolerance’ for arson after spate of fires in France

• French President Emmanuel Macron vows "zero tolerance" for arson amid widespread wildfires affecting 35,000 hectares, the worst since World War II.
• Dozens arrested, including construction workers charged with unintentionally causing the Fontainebleau forest fire near Paris.
• Macron plans funding to restore the UNESCO biosphere reserve and supports ongoing firefighting efforts amid challenging weather conditions.

NOISY-SUR-ECOLE, France – French President Emmanuel Macron on July 16 pledged “zero tolerance” for arson after wildfires scorched thousands of hectares in France, including in a historic forest near Paris.

Dozens of people have been arrested across the country for starting fires deliberately or by accident as France has sweltered through multiple intense heatwaves since May that have fuelled dry conditions.

Around 35,000 hectares have been impacted by fires – more than during the entire 2025 fire season, according to the authorities.

France “has never faced so many outbreaks of fire across the country since the end of World War II”, Macron said during a visit to the Fontainebleau forest near Paris that has seen more than 2,000 hectares scorched since July 5.

“Here, as everywhere else in France, there will be zero tolerance” for arsonists “because it is, of course, our national territory that is under attack every time a fire breaks out”, Macron added.

Around 1,000 residents were forced to evacuate as the fires spread in the forest some 60km south-east of Paris, in a rare blaze in the country’s north.

Several people have been detained in connection with the incident.

Two workers from a construction company were charged on July 16 and placed under judicial supervision for unintentionally starting the first fire in the Fontainebleau forest, nearly a tenth of which has burnt since July 12.

Repair work on a motorway guardrail and a spark from an angle grinder likely set fire to the vegetation and then to the forest bordering the A6 which links Paris to the eastern city of Lyon, said Fontainebleau public prosecutor Diane Ngomsik on July 16.

Two workers have been charged with “unintentional destruction by fire... resulting from a breach of a safety or precautionary obligation,” while the manager of the company has been given the status of assisted witness, the Fontainebleau prosecutor told AFP.

The head of the construction company and two workers are to be brought before an investigating judge on suspicion of involuntary destruction by fire through a breach of safety obligations.

Some 950 firefighters were still working on July 16 trying to stamp out the blaze.

“As on previous days, we’re still seeing the wind pick up and temperatures rise, which causes flare-ups of the fire here and there,” said Sebastien Avenel, deputy director of the Seine-et-Marne fire service.

On July 15, two 18-year-old men, one of them a volunteer firefighter, suspected of deliberately starting fires in two other locations in the area, were placed under formal investigation and remanded in custody.

Macron announced a funding drive to raise money to rehabilitate and protect the forest, a UNESCO biosphere reserve. AFP