As heat and dry conditions fan wildfires in France, volunteers fan out to help
Volunteers in southwestern France are assisting firefighters as record-breaking heat and dry conditions fuel massive wildfires. The blazes have devastated thousands of hectares near Bordeaux, forcing mass evacuations across the region.
Why it matters
The increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires in Europe highlight the growing impact of climate change on local communities and infrastructure.
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LANTON, France (AP) — With his watering can and bucket, Jean-François Pauner meanders from one small fire to the next along a forest floor, dousing small flareups of wildfires that have swept through woodlands four times the size of Paris in southwestern France.
“This is the first fire I’m experiencing real-time, and I can tell you it’s vicious,” said Pauner, 64. “It’s underground, it comes out at any moment, and no matter how much we try to extinguish it, re-extinguish it, re-extinguish it, it keeps restarting.”
“It’s like a steamroller that’s constantly, constantly rolling,” said Pauner, wearing shorts, boots and sunglasses on a string around his neck on a road through cultivated pine trees , as the ground smoldered.
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