France has asked for help from the European Union to tackle a major wildfire raging along the country's Atlantic coast, Reuters reports.
French President Emmanuel Macron stressed that the situation in the country remained tense. He said fires had engulfed various parts of France, with the situation in the Gironde department being particularly worrying.
He said Paris had requested the activation of the European Union's Civil Protection Mechanism. "We will soon be able to count on reinforcements from two Croatian "Canadar" planes, two Portuguese "Air Tractor" planes, as well as two heavy "Black Hawk" helicopters from the Czech Republic and Slovakia," Macron explained.
More than 10,000 people were evacuated overnight in southwestern France after a rapidly growing forest fire engulfed nearly 2,400 hectares of land west of the city of Bordeaux.
Spain has declared a state of emergency over the fires burning near Madrid and the neighboring province of Avila. The Interior Ministry noted that the decision was taken due to the simultaneous occurrence of several fires, adverse weather conditions and the need to mobilize significant resources from various state structures, which complicates extinguishing operations and Civil Protection activities.
Spain and much of southern Europe are facing increasingly severe forest fires due to climate change.
The regional government of Madrid has requested assistance, describing the situation as "extremely serious". More than 10,000 people have been evacuated from Vía del Prado, San Martín de Valdeiglesias, Pelayos de la Presa and Aldea del Fresno.