In the seaside town of Le Porge, south of Bordeaux, 69-year-old resident Patrick Martineau recounts the moment when gendarmes knocked on every door, warning that a wildfire was rapidly approaching. 'The fire was about 500 meters away—we grabbed some things and left,' Martineau said. The scene in Le Porge is mirrored across southern Europe, where wildfires have forced thousands of residents and tourists to evacuate.
Fires have swept through parts of Italy, France, and Spain, driven by scorching temperatures and strong winds. In France alone, over 20,000 people, mostly tourists, have been evacuated since Wednesday as a fire ravaged a seaside pine forest around Bordeaux. In Italy, thousands of emergency workers battled scores of fires in Sicily and the Calabria region, where arsonists reportedly started fires using stray cats soaked in flammable liquid.
The fires have claimed the lives of three firefighters. In Sicily, one firefighter died after falling ill while battling the flames, while two firefighters died near Bordeaux airport earlier this week. France has invoked the EU's civil protection mechanism, requesting six aircraft to help fight the blazes.
The total area of land burnt so far this year in EU countries is the second largest on record, according to satellite data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS). Climatologists attribute the rapid spread of these fires to climate change, which is making European droughts more severe.
In Spain, authorities ordered 3,500 people in a small town west of Madrid to evacuate due to an out-of-control forest fire. Civil protection chief Virginia Barcones warned that some fires become so intense that firefighters stand 'no chance' despite the deployment of aircraft and ground crews. 'Climate change is what kills, what destroys our villages and our natural and cultural heritage,' she told Spanish radio.
