Forest fires in Czech Republic and France finally under control

After raging for more than week in the Czech Bohemian Switzerland national park, a forest fire of historic proportions has been brought under control, Czech Fire Brigade chief Vladimir Vlcek said in Hrensko on Monday evening.
In southern France, a smaller but still significant blaze was also brought under control by emergency workers.
The two operations saw more than 1,000 firefighters engaged in the Czech Republic, and 670 in France.
The Bohemian Switzerland National Park in the west of the Czech Republic is near the border with Germany, where forest fires are also burning.
It was only on Monday that firefighters were able to reduce the operational area from about 1,000 to 600 hectares. Almost 350 vehicles, as well as six helicopters and five firefighting aircraft, are on site to extinguish pockets of embers.
Germany also helped out with additional helicopters that dropped water in the impassable terrain. Firefighting operations focussed on areas in the so-called Deep Valley as well as around the Wing Wall (Kridelni stena) and in the cliffs above the border town of Hrensko.
While the nearly 100 residents of the community of Vysoka Lipa were able to return to their homes, there was still no clearance for other evacuated places. Concern is therefore growing in the region that much of the summer tourism may be lost this season.
Normally, around 400,000 people take part in punt trips on the Kamenice river through the rocky Edmund Gorge every year.
Meanwhile in Aubais in southern France, a fire erupted suddenly on Sunday and quickly spread to an area of 370 hectares, fire brigade spokesperson William Borelly told the broadcaster FranceInfo.
The fire caused the A9 motorway to be closed for three hours and destroyed two storage sheds and a mobile home.
The fire had been brought under control by Monday morning and, thanks to the efforts of the firefighters, no other houses were destroyed. Extinguishing all the pockets of embers completely will still take days, Borelly said.
Nine firefighters suffered injuries in the course of the operation, with one seriously injured.
A further fire near Marseilles has also been brought under control, according to FranceInfo, but traffic on the nearby A7 motorway was still affected on Monday.