Walls in France: Summer fires

Due to the dryness of the region, fire is always a risk throughout the hills of Provence during the summer months. People are warned to avoid the driest areas, including many well-traveled hiking trails. The mistral wind adds to the dryness of the region and is often responsible for spreading flames that ignite. You can often find "spotters" or fire officials who are trying to see the fires before they get out of control. While here on vacation a couple of years ago, my mom and the girls and I had to turn back from a planned daytrip to Aix-en-Provence because of a fire that was attacking the hills along the Autoroute de Soleil where we traveled. It was extremely scary! This year, we have been fortunate enough not to witness any flames, but we did see the brutality a fire can do. On the way to one of our favoriate beaches in the area, Sausset Les Pins, we took our exit and were aghast by what we saw...burned tress, blackened hillsides and desolate forests that used to be full of plush pine trees. After the inital shock in the change of scenery, I quickly pulled out my iphone to snap pictures of the destruction from the car. Sadly, we learned later that the fire had most likely been started by a burning car that had been stolen in Marseille...a crime that turned into a disaster for this once-beautiful area of Provence.