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The blaze tore through a tourist area in the Pyrenees-Orientales region near the Spanish border, which was vulnerable due to "intense heat, dryness and tumultuous winds of up to 180km/h", authorities said.

The �ʲ��é��é���-��������Գٲ������ is a department that has not known a full day of rain in over a year.

France's Ecological Transition Minister Christophe Béchu said that �ʲ��é��é���-��������Գٲ������, which borders Spanish Catalonia, will be officially declared at drought "crisis" level from 10 May.

The �ʲ��é��é���-��������Գٲ������ will become the fourth district where the drought is officially at "crisis" level.

However, the soils, which were already dry at the end of February, dried up further in southeastern part of the country and reached record low moisture values in surface soils in the southwestern Aude and Pyrenees-Orientales regions, it said.