Macron rallies government response as wildfires ravage south-west France

Lead

French President Emmanuel Macron convened an interministerial crisis meeting on Monday morning as wildfires continued to burn across several parts of the country, the Elysee Palace said. The meeting brought together senior ministers to assess the response to fires burning across several parts of the country, with the government seeking to reinforce exhausted emergency services and coordinate international assistance. Macron was due to travel to the affected area near Bordeaux later on Monday to meet firefighters, local officials and residents, and to demonstrate government support for communities facing one of France’s most serious wildfire emergencies since the Second World War.

Coverage Comparison

Nearly a quarter of a million people were driven from their homes and vacation sites in France this week, as fires devastated 42,000 hectares of forest west of Bordeaux. The blaze on the outskirts of Bordeaux has already burnt through 42,000 hectares – an area roughly twice the size of Buenos Aires – and destroyed hundreds of homes. In the particularly hard-hit southwestern Gironde region, fire has destroyed 240 homes since Wednesday, according to reports. Around 170 properties were damaged in the municipality of Le Porge alone, deputy mayor Jean Lajzerowicz told the AFP news agency.

Cooler, more humid air moved into south-west France later in the week, allowing authorities to grant two-thirds of the 224,000 evacuees to return home. But the ground still simmers in many places. “It's stabilised, but not totally stopped,” French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told RTL radio. “Hot spots remain.” Although cooler temperatures, light rain and morning dew helped slow its advance overnight, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez warned that the fire had not yet been brought under control. “The fire did not spread overnight,” Nuñez said, while calling for continued “caution” ahead of a new heatwave forecast to begin on Tuesday. Temperatures are expected to rise above 40°C in parts of France, increasing the risk that the flames could regain strength and complicating efforts to secure areas already damaged by the fire.

In neighboring Spain, national civil protection chief Virginia Barcones described the fire around the city of Avila as a “monster.” “We are dealing with a perimeter of 280 kilometers encompassing 77,000 hectares,” Barcones said.

Key Claims

• Nearly 224,000 people were evacuated from their homes and vacation sites in France this week, with two-thirds allowed to return as cooler air moved in.
• Fires have devastated 42,000 hectares of forest west of Bordeaux, destroying 240 homes in the Gironde region since Wednesday.
• The fire produced a pyrocumulonimbus, a towering fire-generated cloud that can ignite further blazes, creating its own winds, lightning and, in some cases, tornadoes. France's national firefighters federation said the phenomenon had never previously been recorded in the country.
• Eighty-four firefighters have been injured. Some 2,500 firefighters, 1,500 military personnel and 1,200 police officers and gendarmes have been deployed.
• The CFDT firefighters' union said personnel were being sent into dangerous conditions without sufficient protection from carcinogenic smoke and particles. It called for new filtering hoods to be issued more widely and said at least four firefighters had required treatment in hyperbaric chambers after suffering carbon monoxide poisoning.
• The EU civil protection mechanism was activated, and assistance was requested from other European countries. Initial assistance for France was mobilized within a few hours and has since been significantly expanded.
• France operates 12 Canadair water bombers and eight Dash firefighting aircraft, and has deployed an A400M military transport aircraft equipped for aerial firefighting for the first time. The A400M can drop around 20 metric tons of fire retardant, more than three times as much as a Canadair.
• The European Commission expects an unusually long wildfire season this year, and the EU is establishing a rescEU fleet of firefighting aircraft.
• Australia is sending aerial firefighting assets and teams to support French firefighters, including a CH-47D Chinook helicopter equipped with an 11,300-litre water tank and a Bell 412 reconnaissance and support aircraft, accompanied by 24 aerial and ground crew from the New South Wales Rural Fire Service.
• England and Wales are on course for the driest July in 190 years, as Europe faces an extremely hot summer fuelling wildfires from the Atlantic coast to the eastern Mediterranean.
• El Niño is supplying additional heat into the Earth's atmosphere, contributing to the extreme conditions.

Perspectives

French Government: The government has mobilised thousands of firefighters, emergency workers and members of the security forces as fires continue to burn in the Gironde region. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez warned that the fire had not yet been brought under control and called for continued caution ahead of a new heatwave.

Firefighters' Union (CFDT): The union said personnel were being sent into dangerous conditions without sufficient protection from carcinogenic smoke and particles, calling for new filtering hoods to be issued more widely. It reported that at least four firefighters had required treatment in hyperbaric chambers after suffering carbon monoxide poisoning.

Spanish Civil Protection: National civil protection chief Virginia Barcones described the fire around Avila as a “monster,” noting a perimeter of 280 kilometers encompassing 77,000 hectares.