Fires in Spain, France kill at least one, more than 265,000 evacuated: What we know so far | Today’s news
At least one person died and more than 265,000 others were evacuated in France and Spain as forest fires raged across thousands of hectares in Spain and France, authorities said.
France
France initially expelled 197,000 people from areas around the popular holiday resort of Bordeaux – one of the largest peacetime evacuations, although 3,000 were later allowed to return, according to AFP.
In southwestern France, 198,000 people were evacuated in the Gironde, Landes, Var and Tarn regions, with the majority from the Gironde, according to French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez.
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Around 8,000 other people were evacuated near Bordeaux, according to the Bordeaux fire department.
The fires currently raging across France have burned nearly 98,000 hectares (242,000 acres) – a “historic record”, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the country “will rebuild”.
Spain
In Spain, about 60,000 people were evacuated from villages west of Madrid. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the priority was to “save lives” as he visited the fire zone.
Nearly 88,000 others were jailed in Madrid and Avila, according to Spain’s interior ministry.
Spain’s interior ministry announced a series of new evacuations late Saturday as wildfires continued near Madrid, including in Toledo province southwest of the Spanish capital.
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“The situation is complicated,” Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told the press. “Today we are somewhat more pessimistic than yesterday. The weather conditions – as you saw during the day – did not help at all. The night ahead does not look favorable, it will not be easy for us,” he warned.
A separate forest fire near the eastern Spanish city of Valencia killed one person before firefighters brought it under control, AFP reported.
A 78-year-old man died in the Spanish city of Manises northwest of Valencia in an area hit by a fire, according to the local fire department, ABC News reported. The victim had limited mobility and was caught in the flames near his orchard, officials said.
Sunday’s final stage of the Tour de France was cut short to allow some security forces to be released and sent to help with bushfires in the south-west.
“The battles were far from won”
Overstretched firefighters in Spain and France, battling around the clock, were unable to contain the inferno, which also claimed the lives of two French firefighters near Bordeaux earlier this week, according to AFP.
Earlier on Saturday, authorities in both countries indicated that the intensity of some of the fires had eased.
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But the battles were far from won.
Forecasts in France are “turning unfavorable again”, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu warned in a post on Saturday evening X, adding that the coming hours “may be difficult”.
Spaniard Sanchez warned: “We have difficult hours ahead of us.”
Tinderbox status
According to AFP, the fires in Spain and France were spreading rapidly due to conditions made worse by successive heatwaves the two countries have experienced since May.
Scientists say global warming is increasing droughts and making extreme weather events more extreme and more frequent. Europe is the fastest warming continent due to climate change.
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Both countries received EU aid in the form of firefighting aircraft from other European countries.
Nuala Kelly, a 75-year-old Irish tourist, said she had never seen anything like it.
“Never, never, never, never, never, and I’ve traveled all over the world and been in all kinds of situations,” she told AFP at the sprawling Bordeaux fairgrounds, now home to thousands of people.
Olivier Stewart, a 38-year-old Frenchman who had to leave the village of Merignac with his wife and young children, said the children were “most stressed”.
“They think the fire will burn the house, but we’ll manage,” he said.
