France fights against flames with more than 100,000 evacuated due to fires throughout the country
Authorities order complete evacuation of the Cap Ferret peninsula and request air support from the European Union
BarcelonaFrance is fighting to combat 32 active fires across the country, which have already forced the evacuation of more than 100,000 people. For now, the most important is located in the Arcachon basin, a bay southwest of Bordeaux, in the department of Gironde, where more than 10,000 hectares have already burned. It is one of the main tourist areas on the Atlantic coast: it hosts some luxury villas and is currently full of tourists who have settled there for their summer holidays. So far, 40,000 people have been evacuated from this area, according to the French Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nuñez.
The prefecture of the region has ordered the evacuation of the entire Arcachon Bay "village by village, from Claouey to the tip of Cap Ferret", when, around one in the morning, the flames "crossed the support line established by the firefighters" to try to stop the advance of the fire and protect the houses. The evacuation is being carried out by the only road in the bay and also by sea, in a staggered manner, since 7 am. So far, about fifty houses and a campsite have been burned.
The fire reportedly started on Wednesday at noon, according to a witness speaking to AFP agency, who claims to have seen a column of smoke in a pine forest in the municipality of Saumos. The police confirm that the cause of the fire was an "accident" and are working with the hypothesis of a spark that would have occurred during the cleaning work of an electrical line carried out by a contractor for the company Enedis.
In parallel, there are three more large forest fires that remain out of control and are putting immense pressure on French firefighters. "Our security forces are immersed in a real battle against forest fires," assured the head of Foreign Affairs on Thursday evening. "The situation remains under enormous tension due to the fires that are ravaging the country," declared the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, on his social media. For all these reasons, France has requested air support from the European Union to combat the active fires with air resources. According to the French president, the country will receive two Canadair amphibious aircraft from Croatia, two Air Tractor aircraft from Portugal, and two Black Hawk heavy helicopters provided by the Czech Republic and Slovakia to combat the active fires burning in French territory.
Just 40 kilometers from Araishon, in the municipality of Biscarròssa – which already belongs to the Landes department – there is another large fire that has burned 2,500 hectares. At the moment, the flames of this fire have forced the evacuation of more than 23,000 people, mainly from campsites and houses, in addition to a children's summer camp and a residence for the elderly. Added to another nearby fire, there are 63,000 evacuated in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, according to data provided by the minister.
Other hot spots
On the other hand, there are two more large fires. The main one affects the department of Var, on the eastern French coast, and registered multiple flare-ups this Thursday. More than 800 firefighters continue to be deployed there to contain the fire. In this case, the fire reportedly started Tuesday at noon in a field and spread to burn 2,700 hectares. The 400 people who had been evacuated were able to return to their homes early Friday.
The flames also engulfed 240 hectares in the department of Hautes-Alpes, near the border with Italy. There the fire started from a lightning strike and now affects "an area of difficult access" at an altitude of 1,800 meters, according to the minister.
France has been affected by three major heatwaves that southern Europe has suffered this early summer. According to the French government, more than 12,500 forest fires have been registered since the beginning of the year and the burned area already exceeds that registered in 2022, a year marked by severe fires in the southwest of the country. And the forecast is not particularly positive. Météo-France's weather alert map remains yellow in the south of the country, but it forecasts a return of intense heat at the end of next week.