France, Spain step up wildfire fight as another heatwave looms

PARIS: Firefighters in France and Spain raced on Monday to use a brief spell of more favourable weather to contain major wildfires, with another heatwave expected later this week after mass evacuations on both sides of the border.

About 220,000 people, including residents and holidaymakers, have been evacuated in France, while around 100,000 in Spain were told to leave their homes or shelter in place as blazes spread through a summer marked by extreme heat and dry conditions across western Europe.

In southwestern France, the fires that broke out last week near the Atlantic coast had advanced to within 15 kilometres of the main entry points to the Bordeaux metropolitan area. Local officials said 80 firefighters had been injured in the operation.

Visiting Bordeaux, President Emmanuel Macron praised emergency crews and warned that difficult weeks still lay ahead. He said, "We must hold on. We are going to win this battle together. The whole nation is behind you."

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said the country was facing an unprecedented wildfire season, with the area burned already exceeding the previous record year of 2022. In a message on X, he said, "The fight against wildfires begins with prevention. Nine out of 10 fires are human-caused and most arise from carelessness: a cigarette butt, a barbecue, work carried out without precaution."

Spain battles multiple fronts

In Spain, authorities said the spread of large fires converging in the centre of the country had slowed overnight, but a blaze in the eastern province of Castellon remained out of control as the weather agency warned of another possible heatwave this week.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the fires were not isolated incidents but part of a wider climate emergency. He said, "What we're experiencing isn't a succession of isolated events. It's the most painful expression of a climate emergency that is making sixth-generation wildfires more ferocious, heatwaves more frequent, and our territory more vulnerable."

The term sixth-generation fires is used for the most extreme and least controllable category of forest blaze. In central Spain, three separate fronts remained active in mountain areas northwest of Madrid in the provinces of Madrid, Toledo and Avila. The fire in Avila has been classified as the biggest wildfire in recent Spanish history.

Firefighters also faced a dangerous complication in Vall d'Uixo in Castellon, where old ordnance from the Spanish Civil War is buried in the ground and explodes when flames reach the area, Chevi Bolumar, fire chief of the Valencian regional government, told TVE.

Among evacuees in Castellon, Maria Angeles Serrano said the destruction of the natural landscape was especially painful. She said, "Material damage is one thing, but that can be repaired, so to speak. What really hurts is the emotional loss."

Economic strain in southwest France

The wildfires in southwestern France have also shaken the economy of the tourism-dependent region around Bordeaux, Finance Minister Roland Lescure said.

However, Bordeaux's prized wine-growing areas have so far escaped the flames. Christophe Chateau, communications director at the Bordeaux wine industry association CIVB, said drought remained the sector's main worry rather than fire.

Scientists have increasingly linked intense heatwaves and destructive wildfires to human-driven climate change, as southern Europe faces longer and more dangerous fire seasons.