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Firefighters in France and Spain raced to contain huge wildfires on Tuesday before another surge in temperatures threatens to worsen conditions.
More than 300,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in the two countries, in what the Associated Press described as one of Europe’s largest evacuation operations in decades.
In southwestern France, firefighters managed to prevent a blaze near Bordeaux from expanding overnight, although several flare-ups were reported. The fire has burned around 42,000 hectares over six days, forced 220,000 people to evacuate and destroyed 240 homes.
President Emmanuel Macron warned that “the coming weeks will be tough and we have to hold out”.
In Spain, firefighters are battling blazes west of Madrid which have forced around 60,000 people to evacuate. Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said the coming hours would be “absolutely decisive” as temperatures begin rising again.
The scale of the destruction has been particularly severe in the region, where around 77,000 hectares have been burned by the current fires — an area roughly the size of Hamburg.
Heatwave forecast
The European Union is using its Copernicus satellite system to monitor the fires and provide authorities with rapid mapping of affected areas, helping emergency services assess the spread and impact of blazes.
The bloc’s Civil Protection Mechanism provides aircraft and firefighters supplied by member states and the EU-funded rescEU reserve, but that capacity could face further pressure as another spell of extreme heat moves across Europe.
Spain’s weather agency AEMET has forecast a new heatwave from Wednesday until the end of the week, with temperatures reaching 42C in the northeast and 39C in central areas.
Météo-France has forecast temperatures of up to 40C from Tuesday, accompanied by dry winds that could further increase the risk of fires spreading.
Central Europe at risk
Since the beginning of the year, around 150,000 hectares have burned in Spain and 115,000 hectares in France but EU Crisis Management Commissioner Hadja Lahbib has warned that the threat extends beyond the countries currently battling major fires.
The EU has deployed additional water-bombing aircraft to France, but Lahbib warned that resources could soon be needed elsewhere.
“Extreme conditions are looming for Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, in addition to France, the Iberian Peninsula… where the situation is expected to worsen, including in Portugal starting today,” Lahbib said.
Additional sources • AFP, AP
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