France’s biggest wildfire in years was spreading quickly Wednesday in a Mediterranean region near Spain after leaving one person dead and several injured, authorities said. The fire burned an area larger than Paris,

Firefighters battled for a third day on Thursday to contain France's biggest wildfire in nearly eight decades, which has burnt over 16,000 hectares, killed one person and destroyed dozens of houses.

The wildfire is the largest in France this year and has burned some 12,000 hectares of land, an area larger than Paris.