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Gironde wildfire evacuation
A wildfire in France’s Gironde department tore through 42,000 hectares and forced 220,000 people to flee their homes, with authorities warning the blaze was “extremely intense and unpredictable” as it neared Bordeaux.
“The megafire in Gironde has taken a breather overnight from Sunday to Monday”
The Guardian described evacuees in Mérignac on the outskirts of Bordeaux watching a “strange black cloud” darken the sky and smelling smoke that “wasn’t a natural phenomenon,” while NBC News reported that shifting winds and arid conditions complicated efforts to limit the spread of the fire.
As authorities carried out one of the biggest evacuations in modern French history, Krishma and her husband Nassir were among 220,000 people ordered to flee, and they slept for three nights in a hangar at Bordeaux’s exhibition centre without knowing when they would be allowed home.
Firefighters and officials said the fire had stopped growing but was still blazing, and the government warned that a new heatwave could make it harder to fight.
In the same region, the BBC reported that the fire was “moving erratically towards” Bordeaux even as officials downplayed the possibility of evacuation.
Officials, shelter, and transport
French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the situation remained “very unfavourable” and posted that the fire became “extremely virulent again and unpredictable, generating its own winds and advancing erratically toward the Bordeaux metropolitan area,” before it “became calmer by the end of the night.”
The BBC said Captain Nicolas Braz described the fire as having created “its own winds - complete with whirlwinds”, adding it was “erratic and unmanageable,” while residents in Le Porge set up an improvised volunteer network to cook meals and offer rest to exhausted firefighters.
Bordeaux Mayor Thomas Cazenave said an evacuation of Bordeaux was “not on the cards for now,” and the city turned an exhibition centre into an emergency shelter providing camp beds and food for thousands of evacuees.
NBC News reported that Bordeaux’s mayor described the blaze as being “at the gates of the metropolitan area,” about 9 miles away at its closest point, and said the city’s airport remained open while bus and tram services were suspended.
In parallel, ABC News reported that race organizers and the Paris police department announced a truncated 21st and final stage of the Tour de France to redeploy security personnel to the wildfires, with Tour riders racing Sunday inside Paris on a circuit of 89 kilometers.
What happens next
Authorities said the next phase would be shaped by weather, with the Guardian reporting that although the fire had stopped growing it was still blazing and a new heatwave this week could make it harder to fight.
“With four other firefighters injured tonight, the number of French firefighters wounded since the start of the fires in Gironde has risen to 88, according to the local prefecture, although there have been no civilian casualties”
El País reported that the fire was “inédito e imprevisible” and that “Las semanas que vienen serán difíciles,” while also noting that at least 88 effective had been injured during firefighting operations.
In the days ahead, ABC News said fire crews and authorities were digging trenches, using retardants and taking other blaze-blocking steps as winds were expected to shift toward Bordeaux, and it described the government rushing in 1.5 million face masks to protect against choking smoke.
The Guardian also reported that authorities would not yet allow a return, even though the fire had not reached the couple’s residential area, and said the couple’s main feeling was “great sadness” at seeing the Gironde forest destroyed.
Meanwhile, the BBC reported that the fire had burned 42,000 hectares in the south-west and that more than 220,000 people had been evacuated, with the firefighting operation involving 2,500 firefighters and almost 1,200 police and gendarmes.
