France, Aug. 22 -- Around 4,000 of the more than 20,000 hectares that make up Fontainebleau are still closed as firefighters battle to put out the last embers of the fires that started in mid-July.

The blazes scorched over 2,000 hectares of the former royal hunting grounds, the largest forest in the Paris region and one of Europe's richest biodiversity reserves.

"All the needles are completely dry and have turned this ochre colour. It's a very clear sign that the trees behind me are completely dead," Sophie David, an officer with France's National Forestry Office, told RFI.

"Besides these very distinctive colours, you can close your eyes and try to smell this odour. It's not really the smell of a log fire; it's the smell of burnt wood....