George and Amal Clooney evacuated their 18th century estate in the South of France overnight after a wildfire broke out in the nearby town of Brignoles, which has since been brought out under control.
People magazine and local news channel BFMTV reported that Clooney send a text message to Brignoles Mayor Didier Bremond expressing the couple’s solidarity for the town and local community as they left.
“Dear Didier, at this stage, we do not know if our beautiful home will survive this terrible ordeal,” he is reported as having written.
“We remain fully integrated into this community… As we evacuate Brignoles, we wish to emphasize two things: first, we hope that you and the residents of our town are safe; second, Amal and I are determined to ensure that, whatever happens to our village, we remain fully integrated into this community and contribute to its reconstruction.”
The incident comes as France continues to battle a series of devastating wildfires across the country, sparked by an unseasonably wet spring, which saw vegetation flourish, followed by a series of heatwaves this summer in which temperatures have hit 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) in parts of the country.
More than 250 firefighters, 85 fire vehicles, three Canadair aircraft and seven water-bombing helicopters were brought into fight the Brignoles fire, which saw some 650 people ordered to quit their homes on the southern outskirts of the town. They have since been allowed to return.
The Clooney’s hilltop estate Domaine du Canadel on the other side of the valley was not included in the official evacuation order.