Wildfires Force More Than 267,000 to Flee France and Spain
Wildfires have forced more than 267,000 people from their homes across France and Spain, in what may be France’s largest peacetime evacuation, as a relentless heatwave and record blazes overwhelm firefighters. Around 197,000 have fled in France and some 70,000 near Madrid, with fires burning beyond containment in places. No deaths have been reported, though dozens of French firefighters have been injured.
France has deployed a thousand soldiers near Bordeaux and called in water-bombing aircraft from Italy, Greece, the Netherlands and Portugal under the European Union’s civil-protection mechanism; the final stage of the Tour de France was shortened. Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, told those in the fire’s path that the priority was “to save your lives”, while France’s interior minister, Laurent Nunez, said the fires had reached “a level that has never been seen before”. Nearly 100,000 hectares have burned in France this year. For Britons holidaying in the region, the danger is acute. Watch the heat and the containment effort through the weekend.