You can see how close France’s second-largest city was to catastrophe as you stand beside the burned-out remnants of the Marseille wildfire.
Driven by 45 mph gusts, the fire roared down the mountainside toward the northern suburbs.
The fire front was traveling 1.2 kilometers per minute at its height.
The flames somehow avoided the extreme edge of the houses on the hill, whether it was due to the bravery of the 1,000 firefighters or pure luck.
Then it stopped only a road’s width away from a block of apartments.
According to John, the fire spread to the border of his street.
We encountered John, who was watching the flames move closer to his house while he and his little family were out on the street.
He informed me that he could not even see the helicopters circling overhead, dumping tons of water on the flaming bush, because the smoke was so thick.
“There was smoke everywhere, and the clouds were black,” he continued. All over our terrace and balcony, there were up to one or two centimeters of ashes. The pool was pitch-black. It was somewhat shocking because this is the first time it has ever happened.
“I had to reassure my youngster that the world is not yet ending when he started weeping.
However, we are relieved that this is all done. We are now waking up from the nightmare that was yesterday.
Not everyone has had such good fortune. At least 60 homes have sustained damage, some of them completely demolished.
