Wildfires In France Drive More Than 250,000 From Their Homes
LEGE-CAP FERRET, France (AP) — A raging forest fire In southwestern France, 55,000 people were evacuated overnight on Sunday, bringing the number of people forced from their homes to a staggering 220,000 in one region alone as the flames moved closer to the wine country city of Bordeaux. Neighboring Spain assumed control of itself fire evacuations on the east coast of the country.
Variable and high winds, as well as dry conditions, have complicated major efforts to limit the spread of a monster fire that has been raging out of control since midweek in France’s Gironde region, where Bordeaux is located. Authorities issued an overnight evacuation order for five more areas in the southwest of the historic city.
“The situation remains quite unfavorable,” French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said after what he described as “another difficult night” for fire crews battling day and night against the blaze that has burned an area four times the size of Paris.
“The fire again became extremely severe and unpredictable, creating its own winds and moving erratically towards the Bordeaux metropolitan area,” Nunez wrote in X.
“Towards the end of the night, the mood calmed down,” the minister added.
AP Photo/Caroline Blumberg
Pope calls for prayers for victims of ‘devastating forest fires’
At the end of his Angelus prayer on Sunday, Pope Leo XIV, referring to the “devastating forest fires” in France and Spain, said: “I express my solidarity and invite everyone to pray for those affected and for the work of rescue workers.”
An estimated 42,000 hectares (162 square miles) of land burned in Gironde, with most of the forests and bushes reduced to ashes by the fire, the regional governor’s office said. consecutive heat waves. This is seven times the area of the island of Manhattan and four times the size of Paris.
Firefighters raced trucks to battle flare-ups, and there were planes circling and dropping water in the smoke-filled air. Farmers distributed water in tanks to firefighters so that they could fight the flames uninterruptedly.
“This allows firefighters to focus on the fire,” winegrower Theo Hernandez said. “It’s very powerful, it’s very lethal, it spreads everywhere.”
The number of firefighters mobilized increased to 2,500 with the support of 18 aircraft and helicopters, including those from other European countries. Soldiers were also called. A massive A400M military cargo plane spilled dark yellow retardant.
Gironde province said 75 firefighters were treated for injuries. Hundreds of houses were destroyed.
Blaze created violent firestorms
In a first for France, the fire has grown alarmingly into a self-feeding firestorm several times, most recently on Saturday night, producing lightning that could start new flare-ups, authorities said.
“It’s like facing a hurricane,” Gironde fire chief Marc Vermeulen said.
Gironde Governor Sophie Brocas said that high temperatures are expected starting from Tuesday, which could make it difficult to fight the fire.
He warned that evacuees would not be allowed to return to their towns and villages until the fire was brought under control. He appealed to holidaymakers not to come to the region, which is home to popular Atlantic beaches and France’s largest forest area.
Fire moves towards Bordeaux but city is not evacuated
Bordeaux Mayor Thomas Cazenave declared that the fire was “at the gates of the metropolitan area”, about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from its closest point.
However, Cazenave said that Bordeaux’s evacuation is not on the agenda for now. The city is home to 268,000 people.
Bordeaux converted an exhibition center into an emergency shelter and provided cots and food to thousands of evacuees, including hundreds of elderly evacuated from nursing homes.
A second fire burning further south in the Landes region also forced the evacuation of 36,000 people, bringing the total number of displaced in southwestern France to over 250,000.
Fire crews are also fighting a fire in the Var region in the Mediterranean region of southern France. Approximately 3000 people were evacuated from here.
Tens of thousands of people were forcibly removed from their homes in Spain
Forest fires around Madrid in Spain are out of control. Evacuations were also carried out in the Valencia region on Sunday. A man died in a forest fire in Manises, a suburb of Valencia, on Saturday; this was Spain’s first recorded death in the recent fires.
“We still have some challenging hours ahead of us,” Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Sunday, but the night “was quite positive in terms of containing the flames.”
The government said a total of 76,000 people were evacuated in Spain, while 30,000 people were imprisoned in their homes.
Evacuees were worried about what they would encounter if they were allowed to return.
“It looked like the apocalypse. You couldn’t see anything. Everything was covered in ash,” said Rocío Domínguez, who was evacuated with her dog Simba from Chapinería, west of Madrid.
“We don’t know when we’ll get to town, whether we’ll burn down half the house, keep it intact, or have one house left,” he said. “All the clothes, all the memories, everything.”
Leicester reported from Paris. Associated Press journalists Jeffrey Schaeffer in Paris; Teresa Medrano in Madrid; Villaviciosa de Odón, Alicia León in Spain and Maria Murru in Castel Gandolfo, Italy contributed to this report.
