Stunned vacationers sorted through their blackened belongings Wednesday, while firefighters battled to contain the last of nearly 30 forest fires that tore through the foothills of the French Riviera this week. Officials said that they suspect arson.

The blazes, fueled by parched undergrowth, transformed the picturesque and touristic region between Toulon and Nice into an ashen moonscape dotted with tree stumps.

Weary fire crews were concentrating on a remaining blaze moving through the craggy, brush-covered hills east of Draguignan, about 30 miles from the fashionable resort of Cannes.

Heat, wind and jagged terrain made for a tough fight against the flames in an area where some 28 separate, near-simultaneous fires broke out Monday, and firefighters warned that further fires could erupt if a three-month dry spell continued, part of a drought stretching as far as northeast Italy.

"This area is a tinder box of dried vegetation," Col. Eric Martin of the regional Var rescue squad, adding that the flames were advancing at 2 1/2 mph and his men were suffering from dehydration.

Fires also were reported elsewhere in southern France, the Mediterranean island of Corsica and Portugal. Near Salon-de-Provence, about 25 miles northwest of the port city of Marseille, nine firefighters were injured.

Up to 24,700 acres of land have gone up in flames since the start of the Riviera infernos, making them the worst in a generation, fire officials said. Scores of homes have been damaged or destroyed, some 20,000 people temporarily evacuated and four people were killed.

Officials said that they were looking into arson as a possible cause of the blazes after soft drink bottles made into Molotov cocktails were found scattered in the region.

On Wednesday, regional prosecutors were questioning two suspects who had displayed "bizarre behavior" in the area, said state prosecutor Michel Raffin. He did not provide further details.

Raffin said a municipal employee reported in police custody in Draguignan for alleged arson was suspected in other fires that have broke out in the region this summer, but not those that started Monday.

Elsewhere, Pierre Giolitto, a 71-year-old historian and author, returned to his villa in the posh French resort village of Les Issambres to find his street lined with smoldering fires.

His roof collapsed, water pipes burst and the second floor was a heap of broken terra cotta tiles, but Giolitto said the worst part was the damage to his rare book collection and his computer, which held the only copy of a 500-page manuscript that he had nearly finished.

"Even talking about it makes me come to tears," he said, on the verge of crying. "This home has been the work of my life - I put my whole life into it."

Close

Today's Top News		Top International News
+The next great leap after Shenzhou V ( 2003-10-21) +Hu calls for balanced development ( 2003-10-21) +Report: SARS not airborne virus ( 2003-10-21) +Japan urged to resolve weapons issue ( 2003-10-21) +Int'l AIDS group opens Beijing office ( 2003-10-21)		+US hopes Iraq fund will attract donors ( 2003-10-21) +Bolivia ex-president vows to return ( 2003-10-21) +UN report: US war on terror radicalizes Arabs ( 2003-10-21) +Israel raids in Gaza kill 10, wound 100 ( 2003-10-21) +EU ministers arrive in Iran for nuclear talks ( 2003-10-21)