Firefighters hasten efforts to contain massive wildfires in France and Spain ahead of heatwave – Europe live
France and Spain are battling massive wildfires as a new heatwave threatens to exacerbate the situation. Authorities have evacuated hundreds of thousands of people, and leaders are warning of difficult conditions ahead.
Why it matters
The increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires in Europe highlight the escalating impact of climate change on public safety and infrastructure.
The return of searing temperatures, from today in France and tomorrow in Spain, will complicate efforts to fight massive wildfires raging in the Bordeaux region and a number of sites in Spain.
On a visit to a crisis centre in Bordeaux, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, warned:
“The coming weeks will be tough and we have to hold out.”
France's President Emmanuel Macron and France's interior minister Laurent Nuñez listen to SDIS 33 Fire and Rescue Service Departemental director Marc Vermeulen during a situation briefing in the crisis room at the Departmental Fire and Rescue Operational Center (CODIS) in Bordeaux. Photograph: Kenzo Tribouillard/POOL AFP/AP Over the past week, the gigantic blaze in the region has ravaged 42,000 hectares (103,000 acres), forced 220,000 people to flee and destroyed 240 houses. Such is its size and intensity, it has created a rare pyrocumulonimbus cloud , packing lightning.
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