Wildfires Threaten Bordeaux as Heat Returns

Firefighters battled through the night and into Monday morning to contain huge wildfires threatening the French city of Bordeaux.

About 220,000 people have been evacuated in France. In neighboring Spain, more than 75,000 have been forced to leave their homes and a further 30,000 ordered to shelter in place as Europe faces an intense summer heat wave.

“This is a fire of a size never seen before”, said Jerome Steffe, mayor of Cestas, a suburb just outside Bordeaux. Thousands of people have been evacuated from homes and vacation properties in the area.

The fires, which broke out last week near the Atlantic coast, are now about 15 km from entry points to the Bordeaux metropolitan area.

Temperatures around Bordeaux are forecast to reach 37C later this week. “It’s a race against time before the heatwave returns”, Steffe said.

The French government is due to discuss the wildfires at a cabinet meeting on Monday. Average July highs in the Aquitaine region have reached 32.2C, or 7.3C above the average recorded between 1961 and 1990, according to the Reuters Climate Monitor.

(Reuters, bak)