President Emmanuel Macron has called a crisis meeting of the French cabinet to coordinate efforts to contain massive wildfires ravaging the country’s southwest, as firefighters race to prevent the flames from reaching the historic city of Bordeaux.
Forecasts that another heatwave will hit France later in the week have added to the urgency of Monday’s meeting.
Flames have scorched an area in Gironde roughly four times the size of Paris destroying hundreds of homes and severely straining firefighting resources.
As reported, the wildfires have forced evacuation of more than 250,000 people overall, with roughly 220,000 displaced in the Gironde region alone.
Bordeaux Mayor Thomas Cazenave said on Sunday that the fire “is still at the gates of the metropolitan area which is home to about 850,000 people.”
Footage of the wildfires shows scenes of widespread destruction, with thick clouds of smoke obscuring the sky and large areas of forest where the trees are engulfed by flames.
Europe has already experienced three heatwaves this summer, which have fuelled the wildfires. Several countries have set new temperature records.
The blazes come as Europe experiences record-breaking temperatures, with scientists warning that extreme heat is drying out the continent.
“This is a fire of a size never seen before,” said Jerome Steffe, the mayor of Cestas, a suburb just outside Bordeaux city.
Firefighters battled the blaze throughout the night, and the provincial authority of Gironde, the wine-growing region that includes Bordeaux, said the situation remained “broadly stable”.
The situation is also worst in Spain and more than 75,000 people have been evacuated from their homes.Presiding over the crisis cabinet, Macron has pledged long-term state support to rebuild and assist affected communities.
