In a statement released Saturday afternoon, regional authorities reported that some 14,000 people had been evacuated from the Gironde area of France as more than 1,200 firemen tried to bring the flames under control.
Vincent Ferrier, the deputy prefect for Langon in Gironde, said during a news conference, “We have a fire that will continue to spread as long as it is not stabilized.”
More than 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) of land was on fire in the Gironde area on Saturday, up from 7,300 hectares (17,600 acres) on Friday, as wildfires raged over France and other European countries such as Portugal and Spain.
In the most recent weather advisory, 38 out of France’s 96 departments were placed on “orange” notice. Temperatures are predicted to reach their height during the heatwave in western France on Monday, when they are forecast to rise beyond 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).
On Saturday, while temperatures in neighboring Spain hit 45.7 C, firemen battled a spate of blazes (114 F).
According to the Carlos III Health Institute, 360 people have died from heat-related causes during the heatwave that has lasted for nearly a week.
Early Saturday morning, emergency authorities in the region tweeted that more than 3,000 people had been forced to flee their homes owing to a huge wildfire near Mijas, a town in the province of Malaga popular with visitors from northern Europe.
A provincial sports center became a safe haven for many.
Everyone was urged to evacuate as police cars sped up and down the street with their sirens blaring. Basically, you should get out of here. John Pretty, an 83-year-old British retiree, complained that there were “no directions.”
From the beginning of the year to the middle of June, wildfires destroyed a total of 39,550 hectares (98,000 acres), which is more than three times as much land as was destroyed by fires during the same time period in 2017. This information comes from the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests.
As a result of flames during the past week, an area nearly twice as large as that has been destroyed.
There were 238 deaths attributed to the heatwave in Portugal between July 7 and 13, according to the country’s Ministry of Health.
