Wildfires in France and Spain. Nearly 200,000 people have been evacuated due to fires devastating southwestern France. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said 167,000 people were evacuated in the Gironde region alone. He added that “the fire is 30 kilometres from Bordeaux” during a press conference, and that authorities are “working on all scenarios,” including a possible evacuation of Bordeaux.

The most serious situation remains in Gironde, where a fire has already destroyed 40,000 hectares and another 57,000 people were evacuated overnight. These evacuations are in addition to the 110,000 people forced to leave their homes or holiday locations since Wednesday.

The Interior Minister reported 30,000 people displaced in the neighboring Landes department, following a briefing at the interministerial crisis management operations centre (Cogic). He said authorities “will do everything possible to prevent this situation from occurring,” referring to the potential evacuation of Bordeaux.

The fires in Spain

In Spain, the number of evacuees has risen to 70,000 after an additional 25,000 people were moved from villages near Madrid, according to the government delegate in Madrid, Francisco Martin. The latest evacuations affected the Valle del Tiétar area in the province of Ávila, west of the capital, and two villages in the Madrid region, Martin said.

The situation in the Madrid region remains “complex” and “the priority is saving lives,” said Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who visited the area hit by the fires this morning. “We do not know how the wind will evolve, despite the drop in temperatures,” Sánchez said, renewing his call for a “national pact against the climate emergency.” He warned that climate change is causing increasingly severe and intense wildfires that even “exceed scientific forecasts.”

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