Paris: Hollywood actor George Clooney and his British wife Amal, an international human rights lawyer, have evacuated their luxury home in south-eastern France as a result of the wildfires blazing in the region.

The star behind the Ocean’s Eleven franchise and other films made the statement on Thursday (France time) in a letter to Didier Bremond, the mayor of the town of Brignoles, about 90 kilometres east of Marseille, Clooney’s publicist Guido Gotz said in an email.

Addressed “Dear Didier”, the letter said Clooney and his wife Amal, a human rights lawyer, had “no idea whether our beautiful home makes it through this terrible moment”.

But as they evacuate Brignoles they wanted to assure Bremond that, whatever happened to the community, “we’ll be part of making it whole”, the letter said.

The Clooneys bought their home on a vineyard in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region in 2021 when it had an estimated value of about €9 million ($15 million). In an interview with Esquire last October, Clooney described their “farm in France” as their primary residence.

The fire near Brignoles broke out Wednesday afternoon and burned some 100 hectares, local officials said. The blaze was far smaller than a vast inferno that has swept up the region around Bordeaux in southwestern France in recent days.

About 700 residents from the areas near Brignoles had been evacuated, but were allowed to return to their homes on Thursday after the fire was brought under control, the officials said.

Water-bombing helicopters remained deployed over the area after the evacuation order was lifted, the regional administration said. It said weather conditions remained unfavorable, with high temperatures and winds expected to pick up again in the afternoon.

The French government in December announced that the Clooneys along with their twins Ella and Alexander were awarded French citizenship.

Reuters, AP