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AN IRISH FAMILY endured a “holiday from hell” when their campsite in France went up in flames due to a wildfire mere hours after their arrival.
Yesterday, around 3,000 people were evacuated in southeastern France, as Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu sounded the alarm over an early outbreak of wildfires in the wake of a record-breaking heatwave.
Tourists and local residents had to be moved after a wildfire broke out in the town of Sainte-Marie-la-Mer and spread to Canet-en-Roussillon on Thursday.
The fire reached a campsite and destroyed dozens of mobile homes, before spreading to the marina area, where thick, toxic smoke blanketed the boats.
Firefighters said nearly 3,000 people were evacuated, with half of them from three campsites in the affected area.
Michael Cleary and his extended family were among those at one of the impacted campsites.
Speaking to The Journal, Cleary said he and his family flew into Carcassonne on an early flight yesterday and made their way to a campsite in Canet-en-Roussillon.
“This was our seventh year going there,” said Cleary, “and for that to happen within two hours of arriving was a surreal experience.”
— Michael Cleary (@MichaelCleary14) July 3, 2026
Some 16 of Cleary’s family and extended family were at the campsite.
“We arrived yesterday at about 1pm, checked in, and everything was great.
“We put all our belongings into the cabin and then headed down to the pool to meet everybody.
“But within about half an hour, we could see the smoke billowing behind the camp, towards the cabins.”
When Cleary saw the smoke coming, he ran back to the cabin because his daughter had returned there from the pool.
“For some reason, she picked up our passports,” said Cleary.
“That’s the only reason we got home, because she picked up our passports, and I was able to change the flight.
“We were supposed to be coming back on 13 July, but I was able to change our flight to this morning.”
Cleary said his family were transferred to a hostel but that it was extremely warm and very uncomfortable to sleep.
“It was at that stage that I looked at what possibility we would have of getting back and I was able to change flights for an additional fee.”
Some 36 hours or so after departing for France, Cleary and his family arrived back at Dublin Airport this morning in the “same clothes we were wearing yesterday”.
He landed at around 11am and was greeted by his brother-in-law who had to bring Cleary his spare car keys, because the other set were destroyed in the fire.
When the fire broke out, Cleary said people at the campsite were ushered towards a nearby beach.
Only arrived in Le Brasilia in Canet-et-Roussillon 2 hours prior and next thing we're on the beach having being evacuation from the camp. pic.twitter.com/71ik1DMRSo
— Michael Cleary (@MichaelCleary14) July 3, 2026
“It was scary, because we all moved to the beach but every time we were walking, the fire was getting reignited and you could hear gas cylinders exploding in the camps.
“There’d be a boom, and next thing you’d see black smoke billowing up into the sky.
“We were on the beach for about three hours and were all sunburnt.”
While the cabin used by Cleary’s brother and brother-in-law survived, his own was “destroyed completely, burnt to the ground”.
Another brother-in-law’s cabin was also destroyed, along with all their belongings.
“We had brought a 20 kilogram suitcase, as well as four new suitcases, and we came back with nothing,” said Cleary.
“We had our phones with us, and our passports thankfully.”
But at Dublin Airport, we didn’t have to do any baggage collection, everything was basically gone.
Cleary remarked that there were strong winds yesterday that were “fuelling and feeding the fire”.
“It was so difficult for the firefighters, they were coming in with planes and helicopters and dropping the water but it was really hard for them to try that.”
Two hundred firefighters and four water-bombing helicopters were deployed to put out the blazes, and two firefighters suffered minor injuries.
“We’ve been calling it the holiday from hell,” said Cleary, “but we’re all safe and that’s the main thing.
“Possessions can be replaced, people can’t. It was crazy day, but we’re all good thankfully.”
In June, France experienced a record-breaking heatwave which lasted 11 days and saw temperatures climb above 40C in many places.
Apart from having “major impacts” on human health, ecosystems, agriculture, and infrastructure, the extraordinary heatwave worsened the risk of wildfires, the World Meteorological Organisation has said.
About 2,000 firefighters – including volunteers and military personnel – were mobilised in southern France on Wednesday and Thursday.
The largest wildfire recorded, which broke out Wednesday in the departments of Aude and Herault, kept spreading, fanned by the wind, having already scorched about 900 hectares.
Weather conditions remain unfavourable, with wind gusts reaching 70 kilometres per hour and continuing to strengthen, officials warned.
The Meteo-France weather agency said a new spell of high temperatures would hit the country next week, although they are not expected to be as extreme as in June
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