Large forest fires in France have approached the historic city of Bordeaux, located in the heart of the country’s wine region, and hundreds of thousands of residents have been evacuated in both France and Spain, Reuters writes.
By the 26th of July, 220,000 residents had been evacuated in France, while in Spain 75,000 people had been forced to leave their homes and another 30,000 were advised to seek shelter in their current location. In France, the flames have devastated the Cap Ferret peninsula on the Atlantic coast, and the fires have spread to the neighboring Bordeaux region, where firefighters are trying to keep them from reaching the regional capital. The mayor of Bordeaux said the fire was about 15 kilometers from the city limits. French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told television on the evening of the 26th of July that rescuers were facing an uncontrollable fire that was moving towards the city, and that the overall situation was unfavorable and unprecedented.
The mayor of Bordeaux said on Sunday that there were no plans to evacuate the city. It is home to about 850,000 people, including the suburbs. Nunez said authorities would continue to assess the situation calmly and realistically.
As the flames advanced, police from surrounding municipalities went door-to-door at night, urging people to evacuate.
Meanwhile, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited the fire-stricken areas of Avila, one of the three provinces in Spain hardest hit by the fires.
The blazes in the countryside of Avila have destroyed more than 50,000 hectares, making it the worst forest fire in Spain’s recent history.
A separate fire in the northern province of Castile has burned more than 4,300 hectares. Juanfran Perez, the leader of the Valencia region, said the fire was out of control and technically very difficult to put out, especially given the adverse weather conditions. The fires have also reached the Sierra de Espadana national park, which is home to vast pine and cork oak forests.
The severe fires are being blamed on a prolonged drought and a succession of heatwaves, exacerbated by climate change. Both Bordeaux and Avila had average July highs of 32 degrees Celsius, six degrees above the average highs recorded between 1961 and 1990.
Greece and Italy have each sent two Canadair firefighting aircraft to Spain, while Portugal has deployed 100 soldiers and provided equipment. Turkey plans to send two more aircraft. Sanchez said
the government would declare a state of civil protection emergency in the central provinces
hardest hit by the fires on the 28th of July.
About 150,000 hectares have burned in Spain since January, six times more than in the same period last year. While forest fires have always been a feature of Spanish summers, their increasing size and intensity, compounded by extreme weather conditions, require an approach based on climate science, Sanchez said.
Fires are also raging in Scotland, where 500 firefighters are battling blazes in the Cairngorms National Park, while in Italy, burning bushfires have forced the southern section of Rome’s ring road to be closed for several hours, causing serious traffic disruption. In Puglia, tourists have been evacuated from coastal resorts.
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