France deploys water bombers to battle wildfires near Paris

France has deployed two Canadair water bomber aircraft to help contain a major wildfire near the town of Fontainebleau, south of Paris, the prefect of the Seine-et-Marne department has announced.

In a post on X, it said the fires, which broke out in the Fontainebleau area on Sunday, spread across around 800 hectares of forest by the morning, Caliber.Az reports.

🚨Dans le cadre des incendies du sud #seineetmarne, deux canadair s'apprêtent à écoper dans la Seine entre Chartrettes et Bois-le-Roi.
📲Un message #FRALERT envoyé sur tous les téléphones portables bornant dans ces zones d'ici quelques minutes avant l'arrivée des moyens aériens pic.twitter.com/BKDxtOQ29o

— Préfet de Seine-et-Marne (@Prefet77) July 13, 2026

The deployment of Canadair aircraft to the Île-de-France region is unprecedented.

Residents of nearby areas were warned about the arrival of the aircraft, which were expected to collect water from the Seine River.

The department's fire service said the Canadair planes would remain involved in firefighting operations throughout the day, while more than 500 firefighters were expected to join the effort.

Earlier reports said around 1,000 residents and tourists had been evacuated from the Fontainebleau area.

The Fontainebleau blaze is one of several wildfires burning across France in recent days amid extreme heat and drought conditions.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov