Fire in France stable
The fire in France’s southwestern Gironde region was stable overnight, local authorities reported.
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“At this stage, the situation remained essentially stable overnight, without any major changes,” the local prefecture wrote in a press release.
Holiday camps banned
Gironde authorities announced early Monday that they were banning holiday camps, including overnight scout trips and holiday camps for people with disabilities.
115,000 hectares burned
Since the beginning of the year, around 115,000 hectares have burned in forest fires in France: “much more than ever before,” Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on Sunday.
France is currently battling 30-40 forest fires daily, Nunez told France 2 television. Conditions remained very unfavorable on the main fronts, including the southwestern Gironde and Landes regions and the Var region near the Mediterranean Sea.
A total of 2,500 firefighters, including a Swiss fire brigade, 1,500 military personnel and about 1,200 police officers have been sent to Gironde, Nunez said earlier.
E. Macron calls crisis meeting
French President Emmanuel Macron will chair a cabinet meeting called for the crisis on Monday morning. It will discuss the forest fires ravaging several areas of southwestern France, his office announced.
Fire cloud
A massive forest fire ravaging southwestern France has created a dangerous “pyrocumulonimbus” – a phenomenon never before seen in the country, a spokesman for the French National Firefighters’ Federation (FNSPF) told AFP news agency.
Such “fire clouds,” also known as “cumulonimbus flammagenitus,” can occur during volcanic eruptions or, as in this case, when a forest fire heats the air near the ground, causing it to rise rapidly. The rising air cools and becomes a “fire cloud”: a turbulent mass capable of creating its own winds, further fueling the fire.
No quick return
The 220,000 people evacuated from the massive forest fire in the Gironde region will not be able to return home “until the fire is under control,” the local prefect said on Sunday.
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“I urge tourists not to come, not to travel to Gironde,” said Sophie Brocas.
The affected towns will not have a normal working day on Monday, as the situation could worsen on Tuesday due to an expected rise in temperatures, she added.
Sea evacuation in Italy
More than 400 people in Italy were evacuated by sea on Sunday after a forest fire engulfed part of the southern Adriatic coast. Several hundred more people are expected to be rescued, the coast guard said.
Spain’s largest fire
The forest fires ravaging areas around the Spanish capital Madrid include the largest forest fire in the country’s recent history, Ecological Transition Minister Sara Aagesen told reporters.
The fires affected 77,000 hectares in the Madrid, Avila and Toledo regions, with the largest burned area being around Avila, she said.
Incalculable damage
Spanish King Felipe VI, visiting an evacuee shelter, said that the forest fires ravaging rural areas around Madrid and elsewhere had caused incalculable damage to the country’s natural heritage.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, visiting a fire zone west of the capital, warned that “difficult hours lie ahead,” even if there are positive signs that the fire will be brought under control. He plans to visit affected areas in Valencia on Monday.
Spain to begin returning evacuees
Spanish authorities announced that they plan to allow some people evacuated due to forest fires near Madrid to return on Monday. This indicates progress in fighting some of the largest forest fires in the country’s history.
Francisco Martin Aguirre, a spokesman for the Madrid regional government, told reporters on Sunday evening that authorities plan to reopen a campsite from which 4,500 people were evacuated and allow elderly people to return home in another area.
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