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New fires swept across southeastern France yesterday, burning 350 hectares in Gare, where a firefighter was seriously injured, and near Marseille, halting highway traffic in places due to smoke, AFP reported.

South of Nîmes, a large cloud of smoke forced the partial closure of the A9 motorway, which leads to Spain.

I am very hopeful that we will be able to get the fire under control by tomorrow, Major William Borrelli said last night, although as night fell the "water bomb" planes and helicopters had to stop flying.

Four firefighters were injured, including one seriously who was hospitalized with burns.

About 20 kilometers from France's second-largest city, Marseille, the fire was brought under control last night after covering 35 hectares, the department's Fire and Rescue Service said.

An underground cooling system protects Paris from global warming

France is on the threshold of a new heat wave, today in the southern part of the country 35 to 39 degrees are expected.

The heat will peak on Wednesday with highs often above 35 degrees and highs of 39 or 40 degrees in the southwest.

Western Europe was gripped by a heat wave in mid-July, the second in just a month, during which devastating forest fires broke out, such as in the Gironde (southwest France), where nearly 21,000 hectares of forest were destroyed.

The Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in the south-east of the country experienced its hottest July since 1947, according to the national weather service Meteo France.

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