PARIS — A massive wildfire in southwest France has forced 220,000 people to evacuate as flames advanced closer to Bordeaux, while fresh wildfires continued to drive evacuations in neighboring Spain.
French authorities ordered another 55,000 people to leave their homes overnight in the Gironde region, where shifting winds and dry conditions have complicated efforts to contain the blaze that has burned out of control since midweek.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said conditions remained “very unfavorable” after a difficult night for firefighters.
“The fire again became extremely virulent and unpredictable, generating its own winds and advancing erratically toward the Bordeaux metropolitan area,” Nunez wrote on X, adding that conditions eased somewhat by the end of the night.
The wildfire has now scorched an estimated 42,000 hectares (162 square miles) of mostly pine forest and scrubland, according to the Gironde prefecture. The burned area is roughly four times the size of Paris.
More than 2,500 firefighters, supported by 18 aircraft and helicopters, are battling the blaze. France has also deployed a converted A400M military transport aircraft capable of dropping large quantities of fire retardant, while several European countries have sent firefighting aircraft, helicopters and personnel to assist.
Bordeaux Mayor Thomas Cazenave said the fire was now “at the gates of the metropolitan area,” coming within about 15 kilometers (9 miles) of the city at its closest point.
Authorities partially closed a major highway serving Bordeaux, while the city converted its exhibition center into an emergency shelter equipped with camp beds and food for thousands of evacuees, including elderly residents relocated from care facilities.
Despite the advancing fire, Cazenave said authorities were not considering evacuating Bordeaux itself, a city of about 268,000 people.
A second wildfire in France’s Landes region has forced another 36,000 evacuations this week, bringing the total number of people displaced across southwest France to more than 250,000. Another wildfire in the Mediterranean region of Var has displaced nearly 3,000 people.
In neighboring Spain, authorities ordered new evacuations as wildfires spread through the Valencia region. Together with blazes west of Madrid, the fires have forced about 116,000 people from their homes.
A wildfire in the Valencia suburb of Manises killed one man on Saturday, marking Spain’s first fatality in the latest wave of fires. Earlier this month, 13 people died in a wildfire in southern Spain, the country’s deadliest blaze in recent years.
Source: Saudi Gazette