Wildfires rage in France, 3,000 people evacuated

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Nearly 3,000 people have been evacuated in southern France and water-bombing planes deployed to battle wildfires after a record-breaking heatwave last month, officials said Thursday.

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Tourists and local residents had to be moved after a wildfire broke out in the town of Sainte-Marie-la-Mer and spread to Canet-en-Roussillon on Thursday.

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Firefighters said nearly 3,000 people were evacuated, with half of them from three campsites in the affected area.

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Two firefighters suffered minor injuries, said Pierre Regnault de La Mothe, the top regional official for the southern department of Pyrenees-Orientales.

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Two hundred firefighters and four water-bombing aircraft were deployed to put out the blazes.

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“We are mobilising a large network of volunteers,” said the prefect.

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In June, France experienced a record-breaking heatwave which lasted 11 days and saw temperatures climb above 40C in many places.

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Apart from having “major impacts” on human health, ecosystems, agriculture, and infrastructure, the extraordinary heatwave worsened the risk of wildfires, the World Meteorological Organisation said last week.

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Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said 1,200 firefighters had been mobilised since Wednesday to battle forest fires.

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“Weather conditions remain particularly unfavourable,” he said on X.

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The Meteo-France weather agency said a new spell of elevated temperatures would hit the country next week, although they are not expected to be extreme like in June.

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Some French politicians have denounced what they call the authorities’ inadequate measures to help France face rising temperatures, and the Greens on Thursday filed a no-confidence motion against the government.

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AFP

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