Article author:
Reuters
Manuel Ausloos and Stephane Mahe
HOSTENS — Firefighters traveled to Europe to fight a 'monster' wildfire that raged for three days near the wine-growing heart of Bordeaux. We flew into France from inside on Thursday and there is no chance of blistering temperatures before the weekend.
More than 1,000 firefighters, supported by seaplane bombers, attempted to suppress the fires in the southwestern province of Gironde. The fires displaced thousands of people from their homes and scorched 6,800 hectares of forest.
"It's a demon, it's a monster," Gregory Arione of the French firefighters' association FNSPF told his RTL radio.
French President Emmanuel Macron said European countries are coming to France's aid. Two Greek tankers arrived alongside two Swedish air tractors, firefighters said from Germany he had 64, from Poland he had 146, and many more from Austria and Romania. office added.
Wildfires raged across Europe this summer as a series of heatwaves devoured the continent, bringing record temperatures and a renewed focus on the risks of climate change to industries and lives.
Throughout the night, a darkened sky glowed orange over the burning woods of the Gironde, and the inhabitants faced another night of anxiety as the fire progressed.
A firefighter said he managed to save the village of Berin, which was turned into Ghost Village after police ordered residents to evacuate when the flames approached.
In her nearby Hostens, Allisson Fayol and her father stayed at home, packing their bags in case they needed to leave in a hurry.
"There's still a lot of smoke, but it hasn't come here yet," Fayol said after seeing many neighbors leave their homes overnight.
Prime Minister Elizabeth Borne was visiting the area.
Heat waves, floods and melting glaciers
Heat waves, floods and melting glaciers are raising concerns about climate change and increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events around the world. .
A series of heat waves measured from space, shrinking rivers, and rising soil temperatures have helped explain the impact of climate change on agriculture and other industries, says Josef Aschbacher, head of the European Space Agency. said there was no doubt about
"Pretty bad. We've seen extremes that have never been observed before," Ashbacher told Reuters.
ESA's Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellite series has measured "extreme" surface temperatures of 45 degrees in the UK, 50 degrees in France, and 60 degrees in Spain in recent weeks.
More than 57,200 hectares have burned in France so far this year, almost six times the annual average from 2006 to 2021, according to data from the European Forest Fire Information System.
French officials said temperatures in the Gironde region reached 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) on Thursday and will remain elevated through Saturday.
Firefighters warned that windy weather conditions and crater conditions would create an "explosive cocktail" that fueled the blaze.
The Gironde River suffered massive wildfires in July that destroyed more than 20,000 hectares of forest and temporarily forced about 40,000 people from their homes.
Hostens mayor Jean-Louis Dartiailh described the past few weeks as a disaster.
"The area is completely devastated. We are heartbroken and exhausted," he told Radio Classique. "(This fire) is the last straw." (Reporting by Manuel Ausloos and Stephane Mahe, Layli Foroudi and Michel Rose in Paris, Christina Thykjaer in Madrid, Catarina Demony in Lisbon, Written by Richard Lough, Editing by Jason Neely and Andrew Heavens)