France, July 18 -- Around 150 people were ordered to leave their homes as more than 1,000 firefighters battled overnight to contain a wildfire that broke outin Martigues, southern France, and spread across 240 hectares of pine forest.

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

Fire service 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 in centresin Martigues and the neighbouring town of Sausset-les-Pins. They wer...