The China Mail - 'Not out of danger': Residents return to scorched French village

"There's still that smell of burning, of barbecue hanging in the air," the 49-year-old said in Biscarrosse.

Elicegui was allowed back after firefighters in recent days brought under control a fire that blazed through 3,700 hectares (more than 900 acres) of pine forest near his village in Landes region.

But authorities have warned a new heatwave could soon set blazes back off in the forest, which lies a two-hour drive south of another bigger forest fire still raging in the Gironde region near Bordeaux.

"I don't think we're done with it," Elicegui said.

"And then there's the fire smouldering in the peat, which can reignite even several weeks or several months later... We're not out of danger."

Baker Celina Serveau was back behind the counter of her shop in Biscarrosse, which sits about 15 kilometres inland from the ocean, surrounded by open fields and pine forests. The community of some 15,000 people in low season sees its population double during the holidays.

"We're happy -- happy to be able to reopen, happy to be able to see people again," she told AFP, standing next to fresh loaves of bread.

"For three days, it felt like we were at war."

The Landes fire is just one of several that have ravaged parts of France in recent weeks, fuelled by repeated heatwaves linked to man-made climate change.

Forest fires have burnt 92,000 hectares of land nationwide this year, the largest area on record for any year over the past 20 years, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).

- 'Everything melted' -

In Biscarrosse, someone had placed a white sheet bearing the words "thank you" on a garden wall near a crossroads, with firefighting trucks still in the area.

In the parking lot of a ravaged garden centre, unscathed palm trees stood alongside charred olive trees and piles of still-smoldering embers.

A manager greeted a team of insurance experts, looking tired and forcing a smile.

Francois Maubourguet, the owner of a nearby hardware store that was devastated in the flames, was astounded by his losses.

"I thought there'd be something to salvage. But no, there's nothing, nothing at all. It's mad," he said, surveying flattened warehouses.

"Everything melted, it must have been horrifying," he added.

"We'll have to restart from scratch."

Some 15 kilometres away at the beach, few had ventured out to the market.

In summer "it's usually swarming" with tourists, said winemaker Geraldine Lefebvre-Lopez in Biscarrosse-Plage.

Restaurant owner Marion Bidondo said she had prepared mussels and French fries for those displaced by the fires when they first broke out last week.

But after thousands of holiday makers were evacuated, local businesses like hers would struggle to recover, she said.

"The state will need to think about businesses to help us once the situation has calmed down," she said.

Nearby, a single table of customers was digging into lunch.

W.Tam--ThChM