France: Authorities said Wednesday that wildfires they previously thought were under control have flared up again in southwest France amid a record-breaking drought and extreme heat.
The so-called Landiras fire, the largest of several fires that scorched the region last month, burned more than 6,200 hectares (nearly 15,000 acres) of tinder-dried forest in just 24 hours, causing 10,000 people to flee their homes by Tuesday night. were forced to. ,
It burned about 14,000 hectares, but was never completely put out, before being ignited again on Tuesday.
The government announced that Interior Minister Gerald Dormanin and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne will visit the front lines of the Gironde region of southwest France's firefighting operations on Thursday.
After the fire broke out again, Darmanin announced additional resources, including more than 1,000 firefighters, nine aircraft and two helicopters equipped to release the water.
Six fire tenders were reported to have been burnt, but there were no casualties. 16 houses have been damaged or destroyed near the village of Belin-Beliet.
Martin Gasparo, the prefect of the Gironde department, said the "risks are very high" that the dry conditions would cause the fire to spread further.
The heat, dry air, record drought and the presence of lots of peat in the ground make the weather extremely unfavorable. He told reporters that the fire "was not extinguished in July, it had gone underground. Dormanin claimed that investigators thought arson may have been a factor.
In Mostejoules, north of the Mediterranean city of Montpellier, where another fire broke out in the Grands Cos natural park, they said eight fires occurred between 8:00 and 9:00 am (0600 and 0700 GMT) at intervals of a few hundred. Went. meter
In addition, he told reporters that within a day Sweden and Italy would send aid in the form of firefighting aircraft to France. According to Mark Vermeulen of the regional fire authority, the fire is "a large fire" that is "much more intense and moving at a much faster rate" than the height of last month's Landiras eruption.
When I opened the door last night the sky roared like the sea, and [a] red wall was in front of us, said Alien, a 43-year-old resident of a temporary shelter for evacuation in Belin-Belliet.
It was the second time this summer that 61-year-old Christian Fostichenko and his partner Monique had to leave their home in Saint-Magne. They waited at a martial arts studio in nearby Salles.
The flames were less than 100 meters (328 feet) from the house this time, the man said, so "we were really scared."
Thick smoke forced the closure of the road between Bordeaux and Bayonne as the fire was moving towards the A63 motorway, a major route connecting Bordeaux to Spain.
This summer, France experienced a string of heatwaves, which many experts believe are being caused by climate change, as well as a record drought that banned water use across the country. Is.
Additionally, wildfires have started in the dry hills of the southeast and even in the generally green coastal areas of Brittany. A fire has engulfed 1,200 hectares of forest near Angers and Le Mans in western France since Monday and about 400 firefighters are battling to put it out, according to officials.
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