France Forest Fire: Hundreds of firefighters battle first major blaze of 2023

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00:00 It's the first major forest fire of the year.

00:04 This blaze in southern France erupted on Sunday.

00:07 It burned hundreds of hectares of land on the French Mediterranean coast

00:12 before spreading across the border into Spain.

00:15 France's Interior Minister was at the scene.

00:18 He boiled the early fire down to climate change.

00:22 These fires are being accelerated by global warming

00:25 and by the fact that this department hasn't seen rain for five months.

00:29 France is on course to experience an even drier summer

00:32 than the record drought it suffered last year.

00:35 That's because groundwater levels,

00:37 that's the water that is stored in the ground and prevents it from drying out,

00:41 are at a record low.

00:43 According to a recent report,

00:45 80% of groundwater levels in the country are below normal levels.

00:50 This winter, France experienced its longest ever dry spell.

00:54 Because of the lack of rainfall, farmers had to waterland themselves,

00:58 which only worsened the situation.

01:01 French President Emmanuel Macron has called for new water-saving measures

01:05 and has said that all sectors should decrease their water usage by 10% by 2030.

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