Firefighters are battling multiple wildfires across southern France, with thousands of people evacuated as strong winds and parched conditions exacerbate the blazes. According to Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, three separate fires have collectively devastated an area spanning 1,210 hectares. The World Meteorological Organisation had previously warned that the record-breaking temperatures experienced across Western Europe would significantly elevate the risk of wildfires due to sustained high temperatures, extremely low humidity, and desiccated vegetation.
The most extensive of these fires is raging in the Aude administrative department, close to the Spanish border, where approximately 900 hectares have been consumed. Local authorities reported that powerful winds are severely impeding the efforts of the 800 firefighters deployed to tackle the inferno. Meanwhile, crews are working to extinguish a smaller fire in Rognac, near Marseille’s airport, while another blaze covering 260 hectares in Lancon-Provence has been brought under control.
Officials confirmed there have been no casualties. An acrid smell of smoke hung over the area, with pilots on at least one flight landing at the city reassuring passengers that the smell was not coming from their aircraft. Further east, in Frejus, a resort town in the Var department, more than 2,000 people were evacuated from six campsites on Wednesday because of a nearby forest fire. France’s weather office has warned that another spell of extreme heat could hit next week.
Health authorities estimate the previous heatwave may have caused around 1,000 excess deaths in the country during record-breaking temperatures. Meanwhile, in Greece, authorities urged residents of two villages in central Greece to evacuate as more than 135 firefighters and 25 aircraft battled a wildfire. The fire came a day after a forest fire in northern Greece killed a father and his 12-year-old son.
Firefighters identified a body found inside a home destroyed by the fire the previous day as that of the boy. His father’s body was found Tuesday outside the property, which was in a woodland area northeast of the northern city of Thessaloniki. The boy’s mother is being treated for burns in a hospital.
At least three other wildfires broke out in Greece on Wednesday, but all were quickly contained. Greece has increasingly turned to technology to combat the threat of fires, exacerbated by climate change, and is integrating a dedicated array of four satellites to monitor for wildfires.
