Forest fires cause evacuation of thousands of people in France and Spain

In southwestern France, authorities ordered the evacuation of the Cap Ferret peninsula, a popular tourist destination on the Gironde coast, following the spread of a fire that consumed more than 12,500 hectares of forest. As CNN reports, boats were sent to facilitate the evacuation of residents and tourists from the region after the fire blocked the only road connecting the peninsula to the rest of the continent.

According to Gironde city hall, more than 44,000 people were evacuated in two days, including thousands of tourists in campsites and rented houses. Around 800 firefighters and four firefighting planes were mobilized to fight the fire.

Another fire in the region, further south, close to the tourist resort of Biscarrosse, also consumed more than 2,500 hectares. According to the French Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nuñez, 32 fires were still active across the country on Friday (24/7), and more than 60 thousand people were forced to leave their homes. For now, there are no reports of deaths or injuries, report AFP and Le Monde.

In Spain, forest fires in the mountains west of the capital, Madrid, forced the evacuation of more than 19,000 people on Friday. The Spanish government declared the first national state of emergency due to a forest fire. “This is the worst fire in the history of our region”, acknowledged Isabel Diaz Ayuso, regional leader in Madrid.

The fire gained strength after the merger between three initial fires. The flames approached inhabited areas in the province of Ávila, forcing people to evacuate. The speed with which the fire spread surprises and worries Spanish authorities, who have asked for help from the European Union to fight the fires, reports Reuters.

"We are experiencing a dramatic situation, not only in several Spanish provinces, but also in regions of neighboring countries. Forest fires are devastating thousands of hectares and affecting countless communities", said Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, quoted by the Guardian.

Data from Spain's Ministry of the Environment reports that 29 major fires have been recorded this year – well above the average of nine fires seen from January to July over the last decade. Across the country, the fire has already consumed 114,700 hectares, compared to 25,100 hectares burned in the same period last year. At the beginning of July, a fire in the province of Almería caused at least 13 deaths.

The New York Times highlights that the fires in Western Europe are happening in a context of successive heat waves, which caused record temperatures and helped dry out the soil, facilitating the spread of the fire. An attribution study released last week by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) network of climate scientists reinforced the connection between extreme heat, caused by the climate crisis, and increasingly frequent and intense droughts on the European continent.

The fires in Western Europe were also reported by AP, BBC, DW, Euronews, Independent, Sky News and the Wall Street Journal.