Wildfires across southern Europe have forced more than 250,000 people to flee their homes in recent days. In central Spain alone, around 70,000 residents were evacuated as fires spread rapidly through the region.
In France, a large fire near Bordeaux has prompted emergency shelters to open in the city’s exhibition center. The shelter housed evacuees who had been forced from their homes due to flames moving closer to the urban area.
Many of those displaced were left with little more than the clothes on their backs, according to one evacuee. She described her journey from one evacuation zone to another, mentioning places like Lège, Andernos, and finally Bordeaux.
The smoke from the fire was visible and felt even in the city center, adding to the sense of danger. Ash fell heavily in some areas, with residents reporting that it was falling like snow.
The fire had moved inland from the Cap Ferret peninsula and was about thirty kilometers from Bordeaux. Some families were forced to abandon their rental homes in the early hours of Friday after receiving evacuation messages.
One man said that while fires had occurred in his youth, they were unusual and not like this.
The flames were so high that they towered over full-size pine trees, reaching five or six storeys in height. People were told to leave immediately by text message, with only one road out of the peninsula available for escape.
A young man from London recalled how gendarmes came door to door, urging residents to leave quickly. He said the evacuation felt like something from a movie, with people taking only what they could carry.
Many others were sleeping in schools and warehouses, while some had taken refuge on beaches with suitcases beside them. Some British tourists chose to move to other parts of France to continue their holidays after being evacuated.
A family from Leeds drove to the Dordogne region with their children after leaving a campsite near Parentis-en-Born. Despite the ongoing fires, the Foreign Office did not issue travel warnings for France or Spain.
Officials in Madrid said that while fires were active outside the city, they were not yet affecting the central areas. The situation has also affected facilities for international space missions, with one NASA site shut down due to the fires.
Multiple heatwaves have made forests and dry scrublands extremely flammable across Europe. In addition to France, wildfires are also burning in other regions including Spain, Italy, and the Balkans.
In Scotland, emergency services are working to contain fires in the Cairngorms National Park. The First Minister of Scotland noted that wind direction had shifted, reducing the immediate threat to one area.
Authorities continue to monitor the situation closely as conditions remain dangerous across multiple countries.
IMAGE: Bordeaux exposition 1895L’incendie de Bordeaux – Aspect du pavillon de l’Électricité à l’Exposition, après le sinistre. Photo: Alphonse Terpereau / Wikimedia, Public domain