More than 200,000 people have been evacuated from their homes as fast-moving wildfires tear through southwestern France and central Spain, leaving emergency crews stretched thin and authorities scrambling to contain the blazes.
In France, roughly 141,000 residents and tourists were ordered to leave the Gironde and Landes departments. In central Spain, about 60,000 people fled or were confined as fires spread rapidly through dry forests and near populated areas.
Extreme heat and prolonged drought, conditions scientists link to climate change, have fuelled the intensity of the fires. Spanish firefighters reported that some flames advanced so violently they could not be attacked head-on. Along France’s Atlantic coast, thick smoke filled the air as police went door to door urging people to evacuate; some residents and holidaymakers escaped by boat from the Cap Ferret peninsula to the nearby town of Arcachon.
Authorities in both countries said dozens of firefighters had been injured but reported no civilian deaths. In the Gironde, 53 homes and a campsite were destroyed and 42 firefighters hurt. About 1,500 people crossed the bay to safety aboard water taxis and larger vessels.
France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the main blaze, which started Wednesday near Cap Ferret roughly 60 kilometres from Bordeaux and has already consumed about 140 square kilometres, shifted with changing winds and is now heading east toward the Bordeaux metropolitan area.
“We learned in the middle of the afternoon that, following the wind shift, it had become a large, self-sustaining fire that is extremely difficult to bring under control,” Nunez said. “It is now moving east, toward the Bordeaux metropolitan area. We are going to reorganize our response so we can fight it from the ground and prevent it from advancing toward Bordeaux.”
President Emmanuel Macron directed Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to activate the government’s crisis cell and ordered the armed forces to give full support to civilian emergency services. Nouvelle-Aquitaine Prefect Sophie Brocas described the Gironde fire as having reached “an unprecedented magnitude,” with major national reinforcements already en route.
A separate fire in the Landes department has driven tens of thousands more from their homes. Local residents called the scale of the evacuations unprecedented.
“It’s quite impressive and even frightening,” said Laurent Moretti, a resident of Arès. “An evacuation on this scale has never happened before. All we really hope is that the firefighters can quickly get it under control.”
Firefighters continue to battle the blazes under difficult conditions as the situation remains fluid.
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