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A fire started at 3:00 Saturday morning in the Colomars hills near Nice in southern France saw 54 people evacuated and 10 hectares of forest destroyed.

Residents were evacuated around 4:00, with some taking refuge in a tennis club. One man told TV channel FranceTVInfo that he tried to stay, but 鈥渢he police did not want [me to], they started evacuating everyone鈥�.

Read more: Warm weather, drought and fires: why it may feel like summer in France

According to local radio network France Bleu, over 100 firefighters were called in to tackle the blaze in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-C么te d'Azur region, as was a water bomber helicopter. As a result, dozens of houses were saved and by midday, the fire was almost under control with firefighters saying almost all the smoke had gone.

The evacuated residents were able to return to their homes during the day and the mayor of Nice and president of the Nice metropole Christian Estrosi thanked the fire and police departments for their work.

Je salue l鈥檌ntervention des pompiers qui ont ma卯tris茅 l鈥檌ncendie entre et Colomars qui a ravag茅 10 hectares. Je remercie la qui a interpel茅 un individu et qui a fait 茅vacuer 20 maisons en pleine nuit et notre 尘辞产颈濒颈蝉茅别蝉

鈥� Christian Estrosi (@cestrosi)

The fire was under control by the evening, after firefighters checked the forest to ensure it could not start up again. However, weather conditions are not great in the area with Captain Patrice Alberti, commander of the emergency services saying 鈥渨e have not had a lot of rain and the vegetation is suffering鈥�.

The police arrested a homeless man suspected of starting the fire to keep warm.

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