FRENCH FIREFIGHTERS ARE working overtime to halt a major wildfire that has left one person dead and destroyed several thousand hectares of land.

Thirteen people have been injured, two of them seriously, and dozens of homes have been destroyed since the blaze began in France’s southern Aude department on Tuesday.

Weather conditions have become more favourable, but firefighters warn that stronger winds are forecast for later today, and local temperatures are set to reach 32 degrees Celsius.

French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou called it a “catastrophe on an unprecedented scale”.

Some 3,000 homes are still threatened by the fire, firefighters say, while around 1,000 people who had been evacuated in the area were not yet cleared to return home.

“I left everything behind me,” said David Cerdan, a 51-year-old who fled Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse.

Here’s a look at how the fire has ravaged the region.

Smoke rising near Marseille Alamy Alamy

La Castellane district of Marseille Alamy Alamy

The fast-moving fire burning through the countryside Alamy Alamy

A water bomber dropping water on the fire Alamy Alamy

A forest ravaged by the fire Alamy Alamy

A view of the fire from a Securité Civile plane Alamy Alamy

A house near Durban-Corbieres completely burnt by the fire Alamy Alamy

Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Cars charred by the fire Alamy Alamy

Journalists fiming the fire from afar yesterday Alamy Alamy

With reporting by AFP

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