Brutal heat torching southern Europe has forced about 30,000 people to flee wildfires in France and Spain as a marine heatwave scalds the Mediterranean. France has requested assistance from the European Union to help it deal with a major wildfire near the country's Atlantic coast, while Spain has declared a national emergency in the Madrid region and the province of Avila.
President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X that the situation remained “extremely tense” with the fires particularly bad in Gironde. “France has requested the activation of the European Union’s civil protection mechanism. We will soon be able to count on reinforcements from two Croatian Canadair aircraft, two Portuguese Air Tractor planes, as well as two heavy Black Hawk helicopters from the Czech Republic and Slovakia,” he said.
The fire on France’s Atlantic coast prompted the evacuation of more than 18,800 people, while around the Madrid region, fires forced the evacuation of 10,000 people, placing the response in the hands of a military emergency unit. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez urged the public to exercise “great caution” and heed instructions from authorities.
Extreme highs of 44.7C were recorded on Thursday in Cieza, Spain, and a marine heatwave is affecting 80% of the Mediterranean Sea’s surface area, with some anomalies 5C hotter than average. The severity of fires in the EU has broken records for this time of year, with about twice as much land burned by 22 July than the average over the last two decades.
The fire in France began in a dense pine forest near the village of Saumos, west of Bordeaux, and had burned more than 3,700 hectares in a little over 24 hours. No casualties had been reported, but several houses had succumbed to the flames. “One of the main fronts is very close to a semi-urban area. We are defending house by house,” said Marc Vermeulen, the regional fire service chief.
