PARIS: Firefighters battled through the night to tackle a ​blaze that tore through a historic forest near Paris ‌on ​Tuesday, with at least two people arrested on suspicion of having started the fire near one of France’s best-known royal palaces.

“It is not under control,” Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said late on Monday, adding that the main ⁠blaze in Fontainebleau and another one nearby that started on Monday afternoon had scorched 1,300 hectares (3,212 acres).

Nunez said the fire was just a few kilometres away from ‌the Palace of Fontainebleau, which explained the deployment of considerable resources, including water-carrying planes and helicopters.

For the first time, Canadair aircraft ‌on Monday skimmed the River Seine to fill their ‌tanks, attempting to contain a blaze that turned the ‌sky black.

Just 70 km (40 ‌miles) from Paris, the fire forced the closure of the A6 highway linking ​the capital with ‌Lyon and ​the south. Smaller fires in the ⁠area also disrupted high-speed train services.

As many as 900 people were evacuated from their homes.

Nunez said the Fontainebleau blaze ​is ⁠contributing to what will ⁠likely be a historic year for fires in France, with 32,000 hectares burned already this year, more than the ⁠total in 2025.

“We’ll probably have a record year,” he said. “We expected this with this major drought.”

Europe is enduring its third heatwave of the summer, with tinder-dry vegetation and high temperatures fuelling blazes from the Iberian Peninsula to ‌France.

Many scientists say climate change is making wildfires more frequent and difficult ​to combat.

Nunez said 59 people have been arrested across France on suspicion of starting fires across the country. Around half were adults and half minors, with some repeat offenders, ​he said.