Fire ‘at the gates’ of Bordeaux as Europe battles blazes

London: A raging wildfire has swept through pine forests to reach the western edge of the historic city of Bordeaux, forcing evacuations and heightening fears about the threat to the French metropolis from high winds and rising temperatures this week.

After sweeping through coastal towns where residents and tourists had to flee to safety, the fire is within 15 kilometres of the centre of Bordeaux, where city officials have turned a vast conference and exhibition hall into emergency accommodation.

In Spain, two major fires near Madrid combined into a single front that approached the city, later joining a third blaze that was burning at Avila, north of the capital.

About 220,000 people have been evacuated in France, while in Spain more than 75,000 people have had to leave their homes and another 30,000 were ordered to shelter in place, authorities said.

The French fire is being described as unprecedented due to the vast area burnt since it spread from the Cap Ferret peninsula on the Atlantic coast, a popular tourist destination, towards Bordeaux.

“We have a fire that is not under control and which is moving in the direction of the city area,” Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on national television late on Sunday (Paris time).

“The overall situation is very unfavourable, we are in a situation that is unprecedented.”

Bordeaux Mayor Thomas Cazenave described the blaze as being “at the gates of the metropolitan area” about 15 kilometres away from the entry points to the main city.

Cazenave said on Sunday morning (Paris time) that there were no plans to evacuate Bordeaux, whose wider metropolitan area has a population of about 850,000.

Nunez, speaking hours later, said authorities would continue to assess the situation calmly and realistically.

Police went door-to-door on the weekend in the municipalities of Marcheprime and Cestas, west of the city centre, to evacuate residents one home at a time. French authorities released footage showing officers knocking on doors in the dark and urging people to leave.

There were reports of cooler temperatures and some light rain overnight on Sunday (Paris time), but the weather forecast suggests temperatures could reach 38 degrees Celsius on Wednesday. No rain is forecast until Saturday, after days of hot and dry conditions.

France has deployed a modified Airbus to drop retardant on the blaze, while mobilising the armed forces to help with the evacuations and patrol districts to be on guard against looting. More than 5000 firefighters and emergency personnel have been deployed to help save lives.

French President Emmanuel Macron thanked the Czech Republic, Portugal, Romania, Switzerland, Sweden and Germany for sending firefighting aircraft to help, adding to French aerial crews.

Much of the assistance is co-ordinated with the European Union under a scheme that sends resources where they are needed, with five aircraft and two helicopters deployed to France and four aircraft to Spain.

About 115,000 hectares had burned in wildfires in France since the start of the year, Nuñez said, adding this was “far more” than anything seen in the past. Fires burned south of Paris only days ago. In the south-west region around Bordeaux, the fire is estimated to have scorched more than 42,000 hectares so far.

In Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited fire-hit areas in Avila, one of three central provinces affected by major blazes alongside Madrid and Toledo.

Sanchez called for a government “pact” in a ministerial meeting to be held on Tuesday to discuss what he called the “climate emergency” and the response to the fires. “Not only for our safety, but also out of moral duty,” he said on X.

“This very Tuesday, we will approve in the Council of Ministers the declaration of areas seriously affected by civil protection emergencies for the populations devastated by the flames. Prevention, response, and reconstruction. Everyone against the fire.”

The fires have swept through more than 50,000 hectares in the areas around Avila, in the biggest wildfire in Spain’s recent history, according to Environment Minister Sara Aagesen.

A separate blaze in Spain’s eastern Castellon province had ravaged more than 4300 hectares, regional authorities said.

“The fire is out of control, it’s very difficult to extinguish from a technical standpoint, especially because of the adverse weather conditions that will continue throughout the day,” the regional leader of Valencia, Juanfran Perez, told reporters near the site.

The wildfire has entered the Sierra de Espadan natural park, which contains large forests of pine trees and cork oaks.

The fires are the latest disasters linked to prolonged drought and successive heatwaves that scientists say have been intensified by climate change.

In both Bordeaux and Avila, July high temperatures have averaged 32 degrees, almost 6 degrees above the month’s normal high between 1961 and 1990, the Reuters Climate Monitor noted.

Under the European Union’s civil protection mechanism, Greece and Italy have each sent two Canadair firefighting aircraft to Spain, while Portugal has deployed more than 100 military personnel along with equipment.

Sanchez said more than 150,000 hectares had burned across Spain since January, six times the area destroyed during the same period last year.

While wildfires have long been a feature of Spain’s summers, Sanchez said their growing scale and intensity, fuelled by increasingly extreme weather, required policies grounded in climate science.

Pope Leo, speaking from his summer residence of Castel Gandolfo outside Rome, offered spiritual support.

“In light of the devastating wildfires that have affected various areas of France and Spain in recent days, I wish to express my solidarity and closeness, and I invite everyone to pray for those affected and for the rescue workers engaged in relief efforts,” he said.

Meanwhile, in the highlands of Scotland, as many as 500 firefighters have been dealing with a large blaze within Cairngorms National Park since July 15.

Residents of the village of Nethy Bridge, who were evacuated on Friday evening after a change in weather conditions, were allowed to return to their homes late on Saturday.

In Italy, several bushfires forced the closure of a southern section of the Rome ring road as well as a motorway leading into the capital, causing major traffic disruption.

In Italy’s southern Puglia region, tourists were evacuated from seaside resorts due to a large wildfire in the Gargano area, the national fire department said. Some were taken offshore by the coast guard, the ANSA news agency added.

With Reuters

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