France and Spain are battling fast-moving wildfires on a scale rarely seen, with more than 250,000 people forced from their homes as flames sweep through drought-parched landscapes and push emergency crews to their limits, authorities in both countries said.
In southwest France, the government said 197,000 people had been evacuated as wildfires advanced near Bordeaux.
In Spain, the interior ministry said 70,000 people had been moved out of villages west of Madrid.
The fires have overwhelmed local containment efforts, racing through dry forests despite the work of hundreds of firefighters and repeated drops from water-bombing aircraft.
Near Bordeaux, officials ordered towns to empty “as a precaution” as the blaze moved closer, while the traffic information service Bison Fute appealed to motorists to stay away from roads in the area so emergency vehicles could get through.
Smoke billows from a wildfire near Lege-Cap-Ferret, southwestern France, yesterday
About 44,000 people left the wealthy Cap Ferret peninsula south of Bordeaux, where the single road in and out came under threat from the flames.
Some residents and visitors were ferried away by boat, while others fled by car from the peninsula, an enclave known for millionaire homes. More than 50 houses there have been destroyed.
Madrid and Paris have both requested help from the European Union as strong winds, severe drought and tinder-dry forests turned the fires into rapidly expanding fronts.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the country had never experienced fires of this magnitude and vowed to “do everything” to defend Bordeaux.
Madrid fire ‘at its peak’
Carlos Novillo, who leads emergency management for the Madrid regional government, said the wildfire near the Spanish capital was “at its peak and is currently beyond the capacity of firefighters to contain”.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said crews west of Madrid were focused on saving lives, warning that the coming hours would be “complex” as high winds threatened to worsen the situation.
Heavy grey smoke spread across the sky west of Madrid, and the smell of burning drifted into the capital’s centre, stinging throats and forcing residents to shut their windows.
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“Our priority, our thinking, our aim is for your lives, to save your lives and protect inhabited areas,” Mr Sanchez told reporters in Cenicientos, a village inside the fire zone.
“We are going to have some complex hours ahead because although the temperatures have gone down, we do not know exactly how the wind will develop, how strong it will be.”
In France, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu convened a crisis meeting of senior ministers late yesterday and said 1,000 military personnel would be deployed against the fires, which have already burned through 22,000 hectares.
In addition, “1.5 million FFP2 masks will be delivered as of tonight to Gironde in order to protect the personnel involved and the populations exposed to smoke that is harmful to health,” he said on X, referring to the department that includes Bordeaux.
Authorities said around 40 of the 1,000 firefighters tackling the Cap Ferret fire had been injured. Three firefighters have died in wildfires in France and Italy this week.
Officials said two of the three major fires burning west of Madrid had joined together, placing a suburban town in danger.
Aerial footage shows homes burning as wildfire engulfs area west of Madrid
Parts of Europe have endured at least two heatwaves since May. A study published this week by the World Weather Attribution group said drought linked to human-driven climate change had intensified the wildfire threat this year.
In southwestern France, schools and gymnasiums were converted into emergency shelters for residents and tourists who fled with little certainty about what they might find when they return.
EU help
Firefighting teams have been sent in from across France, and after both countries appealed for assistance, the European Commission said it would dispatch four water-bombing aircraft to Spain and three to France.
Regional president Isabel Diaz Ayuso said the fires around Madrid were the worst in the region’s history as she announced further evacuations.
The two merged fires west of Madrid were moving toward Navas del Rey, about 50km from the capital.
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Officials said the newly merged blaze was close to linking up with another wildfire in the neighbouring Castilla y Leon region.
“The smoke was incredibly thick,” Jose Cobos, who fled his home southwest of Madrid with his wife and three dogs, told Antena 3 television. “You couldn’t breathe.”
Spain has faced a succession of wildfires in recent weeks.
The biggest active fire continued to burn in Guadalajara province, roughly 100km north of Madrid, where about 32,000 hectares have been scorched.
Italy has also been fighting wildfires this week, including dozens on the island of Sicily in recent days. One of the firefighters who died was killed in Sicily, while the other two died battling a fire near Bordeaux airport.
