By late Monday, the fire was "contained but not extinguished," according to Lieutenant-Colonel Jérôme Bonnafoux, spokesperson for the Hérault fire department. The blaze, which has scorched 350 hectares of pine forest, had stopped spreading but continued to pose challenges for firefighting efforts

The fire, which destroyed at least 300 hectares of land, was ignited near the A9 highway, a major route from Montpellier to the Spanish border. Jérôme Bonnafoux, a spokesperson for the regional firefighters, confirmed that the fire had been under control for two and a half hours as of early Monday morning