France wildfire evacuations force 40,000 from Atlantic coast
A blaze in southwest France has burned more than 25,000 acres as Spain and Italy also fight fires in extreme heat.
By Sal Moretti · Money Reporter
3 min read
France wildfire evacuations have swept up about 40,000 residents and tourists in the southwest, where a fast-moving blaze has burned more than 25,000 acres and forced people off the Cap Ferret peninsula by boat, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told AFP.
Nunez called it France’s largest fire of the season and said no casualties had been reported. He said 80 homes had burned, with about 50 of them destroyed.
On the Atlantic coast near Bordeaux, authorities moved holidaymakers out of campsites and vacation homes as firefighters and water-bombing aircraft worked to contain the flames. In Lège-Cap-Ferret, evacuees carried luggage along a pier after leaving the peninsula.
Patrick Martineau, a 69-year-old resident of Le Porge, told AFP that gendarmes knocked on doors when the fire was about 500 meters away. He said he grabbed some belongings and left.
Why are France wildfire evacuations happening?
The evacuations are being ordered because fires have moved close to residential and holiday areas on France’s southwestern Atlantic coast. Strong heat and wind have made firefighting more difficult across parts of southern Europe.
President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that France had activated the European Union’s civil protection mechanism to request assistance, describing the situation as very intense. The EU said it would send three water-bombing planes to France.
France’s southeast was also under pressure. Officials said dozens of fires had flared around the historic village of Cotignac, where the mistral wind helped spread the flames and about 25 houses had been destroyed since Tuesday.
The fires are part of a wider emergency across western and southern Europe. Satellite data from the European Forest Fire Information System shows the amount of land burned across EU countries so far this year is the second largest on record.
Spain is also fighting serious fires near its capital. Two blazes within 62 miles of Madrid were burning out of control, and some Madrid residents reported waking to the smell of smoke.
The Spanish government declared a state of emergency in the Madrid region after more than 10,000 people were evacuated in recent days. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called the situation dramatic.
The Madrid regional government said in a post on X that weather, especially wind, would complicate firefighting on Friday.
In Italy, thousands of emergency workers were battling scores of fires in Sicily and Calabria. A local official in Calabria said arsonists had started fires by tying rags soaked in flammable liquid to stray cats’ tails to spread flames.
One firefighter died after becoming ill while fighting fires in Sicily, Italy’s interior minister said. Across southern Europe, three firefighters have been killed as temperatures in some places climbed above 40 degrees Celsius, or 104 degrees Fahrenheit.
France has also been dealing with deadly heat. French health officials said earlier this week that at least 5,700 more people than usual died in France last month during a historic heat wave. The country recorded its hottest-ever days on June 24 and June 25, with a national average temperature of 86 degrees Fahrenheit.
This story draws on original reporting from CBS News.