France evacuates thousands as Gironde wildfires spread

More than 20,000 residents and holidaymakers have been ordered out of parts of southwest France as a fast-moving wildfire tore through pine forest near the Bay of Arcachon, forcing mass evacuations from campsites and villages during one of Europe’s latest bouts of extreme summer heat.

Local officials said about 12,000 people had already been evacuated in the Gironde region and authorities were moving 8,800 more as firefighters battled flames around Lège-Cap-Ferret, a popular Atlantic coast destination west of Bordeaux. The fire has destroyed about 3,400 hectares, or roughly 8,400 to 8,500 acres, officials said.

About 700 firefighters were fighting the blaze, the BBC reported, while Al Jazeera put the number at around 800 and said hundreds of gendarmes and soldiers had joined the operation. Firefighting planes have been dropping water since the fire broke out Wednesday, and the European Union sent three water-bombing aircraft after France requested help, EU officials said.

Gironde prefect Sophie Brocas said 10,000 visitors were among those evacuated overnight from campsites. She said the latest evacuations in Claouey, on the shore of Arcachon Bay, were proceeding “calmly” and that no injuries had been reported. Some sites and roads in exposed forest areas were closed.

“The work was relentless all night,” Gironde fire service chief Marc Vermeulen said. He warned that rising temperatures and strengthening winds were making the fire harder to predict. “It’ll peak at 20:00. Then we’ll have to deal with… highly variable winds so we’re currently tackling a fire that is going to be difficult to predict and that’s why we cannot relax our guard.”

The blaze began in the village of Saumos before moving toward Lège-Cap-Ferret, an area known for sand dunes, cycle paths and oyster shacks. Officials and residents said the fire appeared to have been started by a brush-clearing machine, Al Jazeera reported. Three houses were scorched and a caravan was destroyed, but no casualties have been reported.

“The weather is not on our side,” Lège-Cap-Ferret Mayor Philippe de Gonneville said. “We have temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius, with winds that have shifted to the east and northeast and are fairly strong.”

Residents described a rapid deterioration as smoke spread. Yassmina de Freitas, 19, who lives in Le Porge, told the BBC she noticed smoke and the smell of burning at lunchtime Wednesday. By the afternoon, “ash” and “half-burned tree bark” were falling, the sky was “very dark” and the smoke was getting “thicker and thicker.” Her family was evacuated around 20:00 local time and taken to a gymnasium in a nearby town. They left behind two cats and four chickens that could not be found in the rush to leave.

“I could see the number of hectares burned rising steadily,” she said.

The Gironde fire follows the deaths of two local firefighters earlier this week while they were fighting another blaze near Bordeaux airport. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez expressed his “infinite gratitude” and “unwavering support” to their families. Firefighter unions have denounced a lack of resources and said crews were exhausted, Al Jazeera reported.

Wildfires have also struck elsewhere in Europe. In Spain, about 3,500 residents of Aldea del Fresno, west of Madrid, were ordered to evacuate Thursday, while residents of Almorox, south of the capital, had been told to leave a day earlier. Authorities said those fires were not yet under control and about 890 hectares had burned. North of Madrid, in Guadalajara, Spain’s largest wildfire of the year has burned more than 35,000 hectares, though authorities said residents could return home.

In Sicily, Italian officials paid tribute to firefighter Alessandro Marchi, who died while battling a wildfire in San Cataldo. Sicilian Civil Protection chief Salvo Cocina said there had been more than 350 fires on the island, including 10 major ones that prompted precautionary evacuations.