France orders total evacuation of Cap Ferret peninsula as wildfire spreads | France

Authorities in southwestern France have ordered a complete land and sea evacuation of the Cap Ferret peninsula on the Atlantic coast due to an “intense and unpredictable” bushfire advance in one of the country’s best-known holiday destinations.

French interior minister Laurent Nuñez said the fire had burned more than 10,000 hectares (24,700 acres) as of Friday morning, with 40,000 people already or about to be evacuated, including thousands of tourists from campsites and rental homes.

Boats began ferrying holidaymakers and residents from the peninsula’s four piers early on Thursday after the Gironde province ordered a gradual “village by village” evacuation by sea or via the only road connecting the region to the mainland.

Climate disruption is triggering more frequent and extreme weather events that cause thousands of excess deaths, evaporate soils and fuel wildfires, while severe temperatures have also prompted Spain to declare a national emergency as fires grow out of control.

About 800 firefighters and four water bomb planes were battling the Gironde fire north of Arcachon Bay, but the blaze, which started on Wednesday near the village of Saumos, 25 miles (40km) from Bordeaux, had not yet stabilized.

Numerous roads in the area were closed to essential traffic, including those leading to Cap Ferret, popular with French and international holidaymakers and home to the villas of many celebrities and millionaires. Eighty houses were burned.

A second fire further south in the region, near the popular resort town of Biscarrosse, burned more than 2,500 hectares and forced the evacuation of about 23,000 people, Landes Governor Gilles Clavreul said on Friday.

Clavreul said more than 600 firefighters were struggling to control the fire. “The fire front looks very bad,” he added. “There are many new fire starts ahead of the main fire. The situation is extremely dynamic and unfavorable.”

More than 23,000 people were evacuated from the Biscarrosse area, mostly from campsites and holiday homes, but also from summer camps for children and residential care homes for the elderly. Clavreul asked farmers to contribute towards water tanks.

A 2022 wildfire burned more than 30,000 hectares in the southwest and 50,000 people had to be evacuated. The last two fires, which broke out because the melon was dry and under the influence of strong winds, also engulfed the coastal forests with flames reaching 10 meters high.

French president Emmanuel Macron said he had activated the EU’s civil protection mechanism as the country, which has been hit by three almost consecutive heat waves since May, battles numerous forest fires mostly in the southwest and southeast.

Describing the situation as “extremely intense”, Macron said: “Soon we will be able to count on reinforcements from two Croatian planes, two Portuguese planes, as well as two heavy helicopters from the Czech Republic and Slovakia.”

Nuñez said on Friday that 32 forest fires of varying size and intensity were burning across France, burning 50,000 hectares, almost four times the total for the same date last year. Approximately 800 firefighters are fighting the fire in the southeastern Var region.

Data from the European Forest Fire Information System shows that the severity of fires in the EU broke records for that time of year; As of July 22, nearly twice as much area has been burned than the average for the same date over the past two decades.

The Spanish government declared a national emergency on Thursday night following a series of wildfires that threatened communities near Madrid and in the neighboring province of Ávila, forcing the evacuation of more than 10,000 people.

The interior ministry said the decision was taken due to the simultaneous outbreak of multiple fires, adverse weather conditions and the need to mobilize extensive resources from various public administrations.

Madrid’s regional government called for help, describing the situation as “extremely dire”. It was stated that at least four active fires could progress “beyond current extinguishing capacity”. The fires could not be brought under control on Friday.