France’s rescue services speak of a “Herculean task”. The devastating fires caused by the drought are also keeping their colleagues in Portugal, Spain and Greece in suspense. After tens of thousands of hectares of forest have already burned, isolated advances provide hope.
The forest fires in south-west Europe triggered by the heat wave are a tough test for the fire brigades in the countries affected. The fires that have been raging for a week have devastated thousands of hectares of land in France, Portugal, Spain and Greece alone. As of this Sunday, the authorities were able to report successes in fighting the fire, at least in some areas of France and Portugal.
According to the latest information from the authorities, the fires have destroyed more than 10,500 hectares of forest since Tuesday in the southwestern French department of Gironde, which is particularly popular with tourists, and around 14,000 residents and holidaymakers had to be brought to safety. On Saturday evening, the flames threatened several campsites near the Dune de Pilat near Bordeaux, Europe’s highest shifting dune.
Representatives of the fire brigade and rescue services spoke of a “Herculean task”, but at the same time reported that they were gradually getting the biggest fires under control. Because of the persistently high temperatures, there was a heightened alert in 37 of 101 departments in France. The heat wave with temperatures of up to 41 degrees in the country should last at least until the beginning of the week. The French weather service expected new heat records in some areas in the west of the country.
In Spain, around 20 fires were still not under control. Of around 3,000 people who had to be brought to safety on Saturday before a fire near the holiday resort of Málaga in southern Andalusia as a precaution, only around 300 were allowed to return to their homes a day later.
In the regions of Galicia and Extremadura on the Portuguese border alone, the fires have so far destroyed thousands of hectares of land. It was sad to see “part of our natural heritage” go up in flames, said Deputy Prime Minister Nadia Calviño on Twitter. The weather service again issued heat warnings for practically all of Spain, including the Balearic Islands.
In Portugal, for the first time, there was no longer a red heat warning in any region, since the temperatures should not exceed 40 degrees for the first time since July 8, according to the weather service. The situation in Portugal also seemed to calm down a bit with the fires. Civil protection only reported one active major fire in the far north of the country, which was largely under control. According to civil protection, up to 15,000 hectares of forest and bush land have been destroyed since the beginning of the heat wave in Portugal. Two people died, including the pilot of a fire-fighting plane. More than 60 other people were injured.
On the Greek island of Crete, meanwhile, firefighters continued to fight a fire in the region of the port city of Rethymno. Seven villages in the rural area have had to be evacuated since Friday.
The situation in Morocco remained tricky, where a 4,660-hectare area in the north of the country had been on fire for days. The authorities mobilized additional firefighters and soldiers on Saturday. So far, one person has died, and more than 1,320 families from 19 villages have had to be evacuated, according to local authorities.
