France comes under grip of 'unprecedented' fires

French President Emmanuel Macron says the spate of wildfires ravaging the country this summer is "completely unprecedented" and that "the season is far from over", as firefighters try to bring blazes in the southwest of the country under control.

On Monday he visited the Gironde region, which includes the wine-producing areas and city of Bordeaux, to see for himself the full impact of the most devastating fires the region has seen since the 1940s, with more than 160,000 hectares already consumed by flames.

The situation had been "stabilized", he told reporters, "but it remains intense, and we must be extremely cautious over the coming hours and days … we will win this battle together".

On Tuesday, local authorities ordered nearly 4,000 people to evacuate holiday homes and campsites around Lacanau on the Atlantic coast, around 50 kilometers west of Bordeaux, amid fears that increasingly bad weather conditions could make the fire situation worse. This comes after residents of several villages closer to Bordeaux had already been forced to leave their homes, with no indication yet when they will be able to return, although Bordeaux itself is not currently regarded as being under threat.

Sophie Brocas, prefect of the Gironde region, has urged tourists not to come, but Eleonore Caroit, minister for international partnerships, said visitors should not cancel holiday plans to France in general as most of the country is unaffected by the blazes.

Posting on X, French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said that in nine cases out of 10, fires "are human-caused and most arise from carelessness: a cigarette butt, a barbecue, work carried out without precaution".

The BBC reports that so far, four firefighters have died during the current outbreak of wildfires, and Eric Brocardi, a spokesman for the National Federation of Firefighters of France, said the flames were of "exceptional intensity" but that so far, the work of firefighters had saved 200,000 people.

"The fire is big," he said, adding, "(Firefighters) say that we are little, but we have a good strategy."

There is a similar situation in Spain, where fires west of the capital city Madrid, which is situated in the middle of the country, have forced around 60,000 people to leave their homes, with fears that temperatures will rise even higher.

Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said the coming hours would be "absolutely decisive" as temperatures begin rising again, with an area of around 77,000 hectares — similar in size to the northern German city of Hamburg — already burned.

"I ask for understanding and call on all citizens in all the country to exercise extreme caution and take every possible precaution," said Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. "We face difficult hours, complex hours."

julian@mail.chinadailyuk.com