Paris, July 18, (dpa/GNA) – French authorities, were forced to save more people from a large forest fire burning near Bordeaux on Sunday, as high temperatures continue to scorch southern Europe.
The fire in Teste-de-Buch has intensified and threatened campsites, the local authority said in a statement. More than 14,000 people in the area have already had to leave their homes or holiday residences, because of the fire.
The flames destroyed 10,500 hectares of land, and are being driven by high winds and extra dry land. Firefighters have been trying to control the flames since Tuesday.
Neighbouring countries are suffering similar situations, with environmentalists blaming climate change for temperatures of around 40 degrees Celsius.
Media reports say hundreds of people have died in Spain and Portugal because of the high temperatures, with wildfires also causing havoc. The pilot of a firefighting aircraft died in a crash in north-eastern Portugal on Friday.
A fire broke out near Pont de Vilomara, some 50 kilometres north of Barcelona on Sunday afternoon, and managed to destroy some 1,000 hectares of forest within only six hours, according to the authorities. The flames also damaged houses and vehicles. Some 200 people have been evacuated, Catalan Interior Minister Joan Elena said.
The blaze was one of about 30 forest fires, still raging in Spain by Sunday evening.
Meanwhile, some 1,000 firefighters have been deployed in Portugal to contain 16 forest fires. According to the nature protection authority ICNF, the flames have destroyed a total of 30,000 hectares of forest in the country within one week.
In Italy, firefighters again battled blazes across the country.
Three fires are burning simultaneously in Sicily in different locations, following an extreme drought in recent weeks. Two planes and a helicopter are attempting to quell the flames.
Fires are also raging south of L’Aquila on the mainland and in the town of Vinci near Florence, with media reports saying a residential building, was in danger of being engulfed by the flames.
Firefighters said the situation was improving in the hiking area east of Trento in northern Italy.
The picture was slightly better in the beach resort of Bibione, where earlier, people were rescued by the coastguard after they took to the water to escape the flames.
Greece and Morocco are also fighting forest fires.
In Greece, where 119 forest fires have been reported in the past 24 hours, officials say the risk of further fires in many parts of the country remains “very high.”
On Monday, the Attica region around Athens, the islands of Euboea, Crete, Lesbos and Samos and the northeast of the Peloponnese peninsula could be particularly affected, the Civil Protection Agency tweeted.
A fire continued to smoulder on Crete near the port city of Rethymno. Villages had to be evacuated, and although the fire now seems to be under control, the embers were hiding “very cleverly” in the ground, the newspaper Kathimerini reported.
Strong winds are also complicating the situation.
Elsewhere on Monday, a “red warning” for extreme heat goes into effect across England, as temperatures could hit 40 degrees Celsius for the first time.
GNA