France battles massive fires as Macron chairs emergency meeting; 300,000 evacuated | Today’s news
French President Emmanuel Macron will chair an emergency cabinet meeting to deal with the forest fires currently raging in the south of France, according to CNBC.
The fires that broke out in the Gironde region of southwestern France on Wednesday have so far burned 42,000 hectares and forced the evacuation of more than 300,000 people, one of the largest evacuations in French history.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on Saturday X (translated from French to English): “The situation remains very unfavorable”. He went on to add more information regarding the start of the fire, saying again on X: “At the beginning of the night in the Gironde, the fire became extremely virulent and unpredictable again, creating its own wind and spreading irregularly towards the Bordeaux metropolitan area. It calmed down somewhat at the end of the night.”
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu described the fires as a “historic situation” for the country, with nearly 100,000 hectares burned since the start of the year, which he said was an unprecedented level. French Finance Minister Roland Lescure described its economic effects as “a clap of thunder for a region that could do without it”.
The gigantic fire is described as a “pyrocumulonimbus”, a type of fire cloud that creates its own winds, making it very erratic and difficult to control, according to a statement by Nicolas Braze, the fire captain, to AFP. 2,500 firefighters, 1,500 soldiers and nearly 1,200 police officers were deployed to tackle the fire and bring it under control.
Stefan Doerr, professor of wildfire science at Swansea University, told CNBC Europe that climate change and poor land management are contributing to the increasing intensity of wildfires.
He said the abandonment of agricultural land in parts of southern Europe, particularly the Mediterranean and parts of Madrid, had allowed the spread of flammable grasses, shrubs and dense forests. All of these factors will make it difficult to manage fires in extreme heat and drought conditions. Speaking on the subject, he stated: “It simply means that if we have extreme weather conditions, this extreme drought, if it ignites, will be much more difficult to combat.”
The fire, which started in southern France, has started to spread to parts of Spain, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is expected to visit the blaze-hit areas in the Easter Spanish city of Valencia.
