Portugal Colonial - Popular forest near Paris to reopen after wildfire

The sprawling Fontainebleau forest, around 60 kilometres (40 miles) southeast of the capital, draws hikers, nature lovers and climbers who come from around the world to tackle its famous boulders.

But public access has been restricted since a wildfire last month scorched some 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) -- around 10 percent of the former royal hunting ground.

On Saturday, "eighty percent of the forest will be able to reopen and be safely accessible to the public", said Benoit Kaplan, a deputy prefect of the Seine-et-Marne area.

One area of the forest will remain off-limits for the time being, he said.

Within the roughly 4,000-hectare restricted area -- half of which was directly affected by the flames, with the remainder serving as a buffer zone -- "firefighters are out every day extinguishing hotspots", Kaplan said.

He urged visitors to stick to designated walking paths, with barbecues and smoking prohibited to prevent vegetation severely parched by successive heatwaves from catching fire.

France has been hit by three heatwaves in quick succession during a historically hot European summer that has seen widespread drought and wildfires fuelled by global warming.

T.Resende--PC