Firefighters in France and Spain are continuing to battle wildfires, with a French official warning that the blaze in the Gironde region could take “several weeks or months” to fully extinguish. Lieutenant Colonel David Annotel told RTL Radio that the fire may persist for an extended period, as seen in 2022 when a smaller fire in Landiras took months to control. He noted that the next two to three days offer a window to make progress before an approaching heatwave worsens conditions.
The wildfires around Bordeaux have dealt a significant blow to the regional economy, which relies heavily on wine production and tourism. France’s finance minister, Roland Lescure, described the situation as “a clap of thunder for an area which could have done without this.” EU officials have warned that the wildfire season, which began in April, could last until early November, potentially setting a record for the area burned. The European Commission has coordinated the dispatch of seven planes and four helicopters to France, along with six planes and three forest firefighting teams to Spain, after both countries activated the EU’s emergency assistance mechanism.
In Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez linked the fires to the climate crisis, as firefighters struggle to contain blazes. A recent fire in southern Spain that killed 13 people spread at speeds of six kilometres per hour, far exceeding the typical response rate of 300 metres per hour. EU crisis management commissioner Hadja Lahbib said the bloc is ramping up aerial support, with 11 assets deployed in southwest France by Tuesday. Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to visit the affected area on Monday to show support for firefighters and local officials.
Dr Theodore Keeping, an expert at Imperial College London, described the fires as “some of the most extreme we have seen in Europe in their size, rapidity of spread, and the pyrocumulonimbus storms they have created.” He attributed the extreme behaviour to hot, dry, and windy weather, exacerbated by climate change, and warned of major economic impacts and deadly smoke exposure, with estimates of over 100,000 excess deaths globally from wildfire smoke each year.
