'It's like a tinderbox': British tourists' terror as wildfires in France see 10,000 evacuated

British tourists have spoken of their terror after a huge wildfire raged across south-eastern France, forcing more than 10,000 residents and holidaymakers to flee homes and campsites overnight.

About 3,000 campers were among those escorted to safety, while the actress Joan Collins, 84, abandoned her house near Saint Tropez yesterday. She said in a tweet that the fire in her area had started from a barbecue.

Diana and John Wardill, a couple from Yorkshire, were also caught up in the blaze, which spread so close to their home in St Tropez that they got in their car and fled.

“It was shocking. It happened so quickly," Mrs Wardill, 70, told the Yorkshire Post. 

As soon as the flames touched an umbrella pine, it just crackled up. It sounds a cliché but it was just like a tinder box. It was just ready to go and took hold so quickly.” 

She added: “We watched it for a bit but realised how quickly it was moving, so we came in and packed our bags and got in the car.” 

The couple then spent the night on the sea front as firefighters battled to control the blaze. 

The fires along the Riviera and in Corsica began on Monday. They are being spread by strong Mistral winds. More than 20 of about 4,000 emergency workers fighting the fires have been hurt.

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Second blaze near Le Lavandou 

The fire which broke out near the resort town of Le Levandou was brought under control on Wednesday morning, only for a second to break out in the early afternoon. 

As of 1pm on Wednesday the second fire appeared to be burning even closer to the town, according to Sheldon Cole, a British tax consultant on holiday with his family. 

"It looks bad below the brow of the hill," he said. "I can hear lots of fire engines again. It is a lot nearer than this morning."

British holidaymakers say fires burned all night

Lisa Minot, a British holidaymaker staying at a campsite in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, told the BBC that she saw planes collecting water and carrying it "into the pool of black smoke." 

"The fires have been going all night, our campsite has its own beach and at two o'clock this morning they evacuated everybody," she said. 

"There are about 1,000 pitches in the campsite, they evacuated everyone down to the beach and we have been here ever since.

"There are very strong winds ... and this is what is hampering the efforts to fight the fire, because they really cannot predict where the flames are going to go next."

She said around 3,000 people had been moved to the beach and asked not to move by authorities, adding: "The sun has come up and it is going to be 31 degrees today, but because of the pool smoke that is over the entire sky, the sun is not as hot as it probably could be."

'We could smell the smoke'

Sheldon Cole, a tax consultant from Taunton, was on holiday with his family in Le Lavandou when the fire struck. 

"We realised what had happened at about 8am, when we woke up and straight away saw lots of smoke, as well as planes dropping water on the fire," he told the Telegraph.

"We knew fires had been going on but that was then we realised they were so close to us. We could smell the smoke, the sky had gone hazy, it wasn't clear what was cloud and what was smoke.

"We are all OK, we were in the hotel so we did not have to be evacuated, though at breakfast this morning we saw a lot of locals who I had think had been evacuated and moved to the hotel because of the fire. They were just sitting there looking a bit shell shocked and glum."

Mr Cole, who is on holiday with his wife Becky and their two children, Freddie and Florence, added : "It's quite worrying... at the moment there are a lot of high winds which seem to be driving the fire closer. 

"It is also very dry out here at the moment, that seems to have hugely exacerbated the situation. Things can just ignite, and that means the fire could come back at any time."

"That said, it has completely cleared now and things seem to have calmed down," said Mr Cole, who works at the accountancy firm Thomas Westcott. 

Arson suspected, says French mayor

The latest blaze broke out in Bormes-Les-Mimosas, in Provence. The area’s population doubles or triples in July and August with the arrival of holidaymakers, a fire service official said.

“The fire started around midnight and areas were evacuated as the fire progressed,” the official said.

"The blaze may have been started by arsonists", said François Arizzi, the mayor of Bormes-les-Mimosas. “The investigation will tell us, but I suspect there was malice.”

Fires often ravage the French Riviera but this year the area is experiencing an exceptionally hot and dry summer, making it particularly vulnerable.

The blazes have destroyed brush and vegetation in about 4,000 hectares (15 square miles) of land along France’s Mediterranean coast.

600 firefighters in  Bormes-Les-Mimosas

Firefighters have stepped up their battle against flames lapping at Mediterranean forests in the picturesque French hilltop town of Bormes-Les-Mimosas, according to Associated Press. 

Col. Eric Martin, of the firefighting unit in the Var region of the Cote d'Azur, said on Wednesday that nearly 600 firefighters were trying to contain the flames that had run through 1,300 hectares of Bormes, a magnet for tourists in southeastern France. At least 3,000 of the evacuees were campers.

The Bormes blaze was morphing into the largest in the area. Firefighters also were fighting a large blaze in nearby La Londes-Les-Maures.

The Toulon airport to the west was briefly closed.