Fire inferno draws closer to Bordeaux – more evacuated

 

TT

Published 01:39Updated 09:30

           

          Beachgoers in southwestern France watch smoke rise in the Bay of Arcachon, in the Gironde                      region on Friday. Photo: Maximilien Lamy/AFP/TT

The huge fires in France and Spain have now forced more than 166,000 people to evacuate.

Seven more suburbs of Bordeaux are being evacuated, and the military has been called in to try to prevent the spread.

The fires that have hit France are “unprecedented”, according to the country’s Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez. Large fires in the Mediterranean region Where earlier this week are still not completely over – and in recent days firefighters have been battling raging flames in the Gironde region. Seven more suburbs of Bordeaux are being evacuated on Saturday morning, French media report. The evacuated area includes the city’s airport.

The French weather agency Météo France is warning of severe thunderstorms on Saturday, including in the already-stricken Var region.

French President Emmanuel Macron is calling on the military to “mobilize” to fight the fires. A total of about 1,000 soldiers will be deployed, FranceInfo reports.

“The only thing we really hope for is that the firefighters will be able to quickly get the situation under control,” Laurent Moretti, who lives in the town of Arès near Bordeaux, told the AP.

“Unprecedented scale”

Sophie Brocas, prefect of the region, said late Friday that the fire had assumed an “unprecedented scale” and was now approaching the Bordeaux metropolitan area. Evacuations were underway overnight in Saint-Médard-en-Jalles and three other suburbs as a “preventive measure,” Le Figaro reports.

The fire in Gironde has so far swept over more than 30,000 hectares, the mayor of the municipality of Biganos told BFMTV. This is twice the size of the large forest fire in Västmanland in 2014.

In Spain, giant fires are being fought around Madrid and in the neighboring province of Ávila. Two of three large fire areas have merged just outside the capital, and the fire has been described as “impossible to control” by local rescue services during the day. Authorities warned on Saturday that the fires could worsen due to unpredictable winds.

Nasa affected

The fires have also affected the American Nasa, which evacuated its Spanish facility for communication with space probes. According to the authority, flames have swept past the area.

According to an AFP compilation, at least 166,000 people had been ordered to evacuate in the two countries, overnight Saturday. Of these, 141,000 are in France and 25,000 in Spain. In addition, thousands have been urged to stay indoors. Both Le Var and Gironde are common holiday destinations for Scandinavian travelers.