Family Forced to Evacuate
France wildfires continue to spread across the Gironde region, forcing thousands of residents and visitors to leave their homes and campsites.
nearly 3,400 hectares (8,400 acres) of property around the Bay of Arcachon have already been devastated, according to local officials, while nearly 700 firemen fight the fires.
Visitors to campsites on the López-Cap-Ferret peninsula made up a large portion of those forced to depart the area overnight.
Recently, wildfires have also started in Italy and Spain. A firefighter passed away after becoming ill while battling a fire in Sicily. While thousands of people were advised to evacuate their houses in various areas west and south of Madrid.
10,000 tourists were evacuated from campsites overnight, according to Gironde prefect Sophie Brocas. The most recent evacuations were proceeding “calmly” in the commune of Claouey. Which is located on the shores of Arcachon Bay.
According to Brocas, there have been no reports of injuries. In vulnerable woodland areas, several locations and highways were being closed.
The chief of the Gironde fire service, Marc Vermeulen, warned that the temperature was rising and the wind was becoming stronger.
“The work was relentless all night,” he said. “It will reach its peak around 20:00 [18:00 GMT].
We’re now battling a fire that will be unpredictable, so we can’t let our guard down since we’ll have to cope with extremely fluctuating winds.”
Family Flees France Wildfires
Yassmina de Freitas, 19, who resides in the seaside village of Le Porge, reported that on Wednesday during midday, she smelled burning and saw smoke.
By the afternoon, the sky was “very dark,” the smoke was growing “thicker and thicker,” and “ash… [and] half-burned tree bark” were falling.
Her family was rescued by police authorities at approximately 20:00 local time (19:00 BST) and sent to a nearby town’s gymnasium. They were unable to locate their four hens and two cats in the rush to depart, so they had to leave them behind.
She claimed to be unable to sleep at all and to be waking up every hour to see how the fire was doing.
