Wildfires are tearing through southern France and spreading into Spain, triggering the evacuation of more than 300,000 people as authorities brace for another round of heatwave conditions, according to the report. The fires have become a major emergency for both countries, with officials warning that the situation could remain unstable as weather conditions shift.
In France, the fire that started in the southwest, in Gironde, has burned 42,000 hectares and led to one of the largest evacuations in the country’s history, according to French broadcaster France 24 and local outlets. The blaze has also moved toward the Bordeaux area, and France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on X that conditions were “highly unfavorable.” He said the fire became more intense and unpredictable overnight, briefly creating its own wind and spreading erratically before easing somewhat by morning.
France has deployed 2,500 firefighters, 1,500 military personnel and nearly 1,200 police in response, Nunez said. The Gironde prefecture said Monday that the situation around Bordeaux remained generally stable overnight, with no major new developments. Officials also described the fire as a rare and dangerous pyrocumulonimbus event, a fire cloud that can generate its own winds and whirlwinds and make suppression efforts much harder.
In Spain, fires have affected the Avila and Toledo areas west of Madrid, covering 77,000 hectares, while blazes near the capital have forced evacuations or shelter-in-place orders for around 60,000 people. Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is expected to visit fire-hit areas in Valencia, and French President Emmanuel Macron is scheduled to hold a crisis cabinet meeting on Monday as both governments respond to the unfolding emergency.
Source: cnbc.com
