Wildfires in south-west France that have scorched 42,000 hectares are now closing in on Bordeaux and have entered the metropolitan area, live trackers show. There are, as yet, no plans to evacuate any of the city's 850,000 people.
Fire size unprecedented
The fire in the Gironde department, which began last Wednesday, has burned an area equivalent to four times the size of Paris. "This is a fire of a size never seen before," said Jérôme Steffe, mayor of Cestas, a suburb just outside the main Bordeaux city area, on Monday.
Weather conditions favourable but fires active
Captain Wilfried Schneider of SDIS 33, the Gironde Fire and Rescue Service, told the AFP news agency: "The weather conditions are favourable, with less wind. But there are still active fires." He said "the most active of these is between Marcheprime and Pierroton" on the outskirts of the Bordeaux metropolitan area.
Resident describes warzone-like conditions
Rachel Hanberry, a British woman living on Biscarrosse Plage, south-west of Bordeaux, said the ongoing wildfires made her feel like she was living in a warzone. "Everyone came here on Thursday night," she told BBC 5 Live. "It felt like we were in a warzone, [there were] people with emergency blankets around their shoulders. People who had nowhere to go. We offered our home to people," she said. Ms Hanberry said the community has "lost so much", adding: "The stress and trauma that you feel as someone living here is immense."
