Wildfires driven by scorching temperatures and strong winds spread across parts of western and southern Europe on Friday, forcing thousands of people to evacuate and prompting France to request assistance from the European Union.
Spain declared a state of emergency in the Madrid region, while French authorities ordered thousands of tourists to leave campsites and holiday properties along the southwestern Atlantic coast. Firefighters supported by water-bombing aircraft continued efforts to contain several major blazes.
Satellite data from the European Forest Fire Information System showed that the area burned in EU countries so far this year is the second largest recorded. Three firefighters have died as parts of southern Europe endure temperatures above 40C.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the country had activated the EU’s civil protection mechanism as the wildfire crisis remained “very intense”. EU crisis management commissioner Hadja Lahbib said the bloc was providing three water-bombing planes to France.
More than 20,000 people, many of them tourists, have been evacuated from the area around Bordeaux since Wednesday after a fire spread through a coastal pine forest.
Patrick Martineau, a 69-year-old resident of Le Porge, said police had gone door to door as the fire approached.
“The gendarmes came and knocked on every door, the fire was about 500 metres away. We grabbed some things and left,” he said.
Authorities said the fire had been contained on its northern side but remained active further south. Firefighters were working from house to house to protect the tourist destination of Lege-Cap-Ferret.
Two firefighters died on Tuesday while fighting another blaze near Bordeaux airport.
France’s southeastern region has also been badly affected. Strong mistral winds have fanned fires around the historic village of Cotignac, where officials said about 25 homes had been destroyed since Tuesday.
In Italy, thousands of emergency workers fought fires in Sicily and Calabria. One firefighter died after becoming ill while tackling a blaze in Sicily, according to the interior minister. A local official in Calabria said some fires had allegedly been started deliberately using flammable materials attached to stray cats.
Spain has faced its own growing emergency. More than 10,000 people have been evacuated from the Madrid region in recent days, while specialist firefighting teams worked to contain fires near Aldea de Fresno and other areas west of the capital.
A larger wildfire in Guadalajara province also continued to challenge hundreds of firefighters and troops.
Civil protection chief Virginia Barcones said climate change was contributing to increasingly destructive fires.
“Climate change is what kills, what destroys our villages and our natural and cultural heritage,” she told Spanish radio.
She warned that some fires become so intense that even aircraft and large ground crews can struggle to control them.
