French firefighters are battling a massive wildfire near Bordeaux that threatens the city of 850,000 people in the Gironde region. The blaze has already consumed more than 42,000 hectares, an area four times the size of Paris, according to Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez.
Critical hours ahead as temperatures soar
Weather forecasts predict temperatures will reach around 38C on Tuesday before climbing to 41C on Wednesday, creating extremely hot and dry conditions conducive to the spread of wildfires. France's national weather agency, Météo-France, has placed Gironde under a yellow heat alert, warning of potentially hazardous temperatures. The next few hours are considered critical for firefighting operations.
Evacuations and damage
Remi Lassoureille, who leads forest fire efforts in Gironde, said the fire has burned about 42,000 hectares in the past five or six days, with no significant increase overnight. So far, some 240 homes have been destroyed. More than 2,000 firefighters are tackling the blaze, supported by aerial resources from other European countries. Firefighters have created large fire breaks at the edges of the fire to try to stop it from reaching Bordeaux.
About 660 people are sheltering at the Bordeaux exhibition centre. Nicole Quilfen, a 54-year-old British expat living in the suburb of Pessac, described the city as "overwhelmed." She left a friend's wedding reception early to prepare for a potential evacuation. She told the BBC: "People are cancelling vacations and leaving."
President calls it an unprecedented wildfire
French President Emmanuel Macron described the wildfires as the "toughest since the Second World War." After visiting the Gironde region on Monday, he said: "We must understand we are facing a completely unprecedented wildfire. The situation we are dealing with is the most severe we have ever recorded."
