France and Spain rush to extinguish wildfires ahead of a new heatwave
Firefighting teams in Spain and France on Monday sought to take advantage of improving weather conditions in an effort to control massive wildfires threatening the French city of Bordeaux and several sites in neighboring Spain.
The operation is a race against time, with forecasts predicting a new heatwave will hit both countries later this week, amid a summer characterized by severe heat and drought across Western Europe.
Authorities reported that approximately 220,000 people, including tourists and local residents, have been evacuated in France, while around 100,000 people in Spain have been ordered to leave their homes or seek shelter in safe places.
Chevi Pomar, head of the firefighting service in the Valencian government, said that firefighters face significant risks in the town of Val d’Alcudia in the province of Castellón in eastern Spain, due to the presence of old ammunition from the Spanish Civil War that explodes when reached by the flames.
The wildfires in France, which broke out last week near the Atlantic coast, are now just 15 kilometers from the main urban entrances of Bordeaux.
Jérôme Steff, mayor of Sestac, said, “This is a fire on a scale we have never seen before.” Sestac is located between towns on the outskirts of Bordeaux.
Spanish authorities stated that the spread of fires in the center of the country slowed down during the night, but the fire raging in Castellón has gotten out of control, as the meteorological agency warned of a new heatwave arriving in the country this week.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said, “What we are witnessing is not a series of isolated incidents; this is the worst expression of a climate emergency that exacerbates fires of the sixth generation. The frequency of heatwaves has increased, and our lands have become more vulnerable to this threat.”
“Sixth-generation” fires are the most intense and the most difficult to control among wildfires, as they have the ability to completely alter local weather patterns and spread across vast areas every hour. Many scientists believe that such fires and heatwaves are caused by climate change resulting from human activity.
In central Spain, three separate fire fronts remained active in the mountainous areas northwest of Madrid. Authorities estimate that around 200,000 acres have burned so far in the provinces of Madrid, Toledo, and Ávila. The fire in Ávila has been classified as the largest in modern Spanish history.
Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said, “Today and tomorrow are two extremely critical days in fighting this fire. From Wednesday onwards, weather forecasts will become significantly less favorable for firefighting operations.”
France faces a similar situation, with the country experiencing relatively more favorable conditions on Monday before temperatures are expected to rise again to around 37 degrees Celsius in the Bordeaux area later this week, according to Météo-France.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the fire’s spread had not increased during the night, but he warned that the danger was not over.
He added, “It has not been contained yet. I do not want to send reassuring messages at all; that is not my goal. We must remain extremely focused and determined.”
According to the Reuters Climate Monitor, average maximum temperatures in July reached around 32 degrees Celsius in Bordeaux and Ávila, which is approximately six degrees Celsius higher than the usual average maximum for that month during the 1961–1990 period.
