More than 250,000 people flee wildfires ravaging France and Spain
Massive wildfires in France and Spain have forced over 250,000 people to evacuate their homes. Authorities are struggling to contain the blazes as record-breaking temperatures and strong winds complicate firefighting efforts.
Why it matters
The scale of these evacuations and the environmental destruction represent a significant climate-related crisis impacting major European metropolitan areas.
More than 250,000 people fled towns and villages in Spain and France into the weekend as uncontrolled wildfires moved ever closer to Madrid and Bordeaux, metropolitan areas that are home to more than eight million people combined.
Authorities ordered the immediate evacuation of some western suburbs of Bordeaux, a city in southwestern France famed for its wines, in an area that includes the regional airport.
About 197,000 people were evacuated in the Gironde and surrounding areas, interior minister Laurent Nunez said at a press conference in Paris. As of Saturday, almost 98,000 hectares (242,000 acres) of land have been scorched in the blazes, a record in France, he said.
While increased humidity overnight means the conflagration in Gironde is no longer convective, or generating its own winds, the effort to get it under control “will be long and very difficult,” Nunez said.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in