Live updates: Firefighters struggle to control wildfires threatening Bordeaux as hotter weather looms - CNN
Wildfires in the Gironde region of France have caused massive evacuations and significant damage to local forests and coastal towns. Residents are actively assisting in firefighting efforts as authorities prepare for further spread toward Bordeaux.
Why it matters
The intensity of these fires underscores the increasing threat of climate-driven natural disasters to European infrastructure and tourism.
Link Copied! “We’re just trying to protect our homes,” residents fighting France’s wildfires tell CNN By Melissa Bell and Pierre P Bairin in Lège Cap Ferret, France Damage from a wildfire is seen outside Lège Cap Ferret, France on Sunday. CNN In the four short days since wildfires broke out here in Lège Cap Ferret in southwestern France, an immeasurable amount of damage has been done.
Many pine tree forests have been all but ravaged by blazes described by France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez as “extremely virulent.”
On Sunday, we saw hordes of locals using trucks to try and dump water on still smoldering trees.
And it’s not just the native pine trees which are highly combustible, the fires have also been raging through the nearly one million hectares of bracken and fern which make up the Gironde region’s monoculture.
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