Firefighters sought on Monday to take advantage of more favourable weather conditions to subdue massive wildfires threatening the French city and wine region of Bordeaux and a number of sites in neighboring Spain, Reuters reports.
They were racing against the clock as another heatwave is expected to hit in both countries later this week, in what has been a blisteringly hot and dry summer across Western Europe.
About 220,000 people, including tourists and local residents, have been evacuated in France, while further south in Spain around 100,000 have been told to leave their homes or seek shelter, authorities said.
Firefighters faced an especially dangerous situation in Vall d’Uixó, in the eastern Castellon province, where the ground contains old ordnance from the Spanish Civil War that explodes when the flames reach the area, Chevi Bolumar, fire chief of the Valencian Regional Government, told public broadcaster TVE.
The French blazes, which broke out last week near the Atlantic coast, are now only 15 kilometres from entry points to the main metropolitan area of Bordeaux.
“This is a fire of a size never seen before,” Jerome Steffe, mayor of Cestas, said on Monday. Cestas is one of the suburbs just outside the main Bordeaux city area.
