France, July 18 -- Around 150 people were ordered to leave their homes as more than 1,000 firefighters assisted by water-bomb aircraft battled overnight to contain a wildfire that broke outin Martigues, southern France, and spread over 240 hectares of pine forest 40 kilometres to the north-west of Marseille.

Two firefigheres suffered minor injuries as the blaze was brought under control on Friday afternoon.

Firefighters chief Pierre Bepoix told Reuters news agency: "It was a fire that swept through relatively dense vegetation ... which made our work particularly complicated.

"Obviously, priority was given to the preservation and protection of these homes and the lives that could be in these buildings."

The residents wereaccommodated i...