The various fires raging in France have burned nearly 98,000 hectares since the beginning of the year, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez announced today. He described this as a “historical record”, reported Agence France-Presse, quoted by BTA.
“There are still a number of fires across the country that have not been localized”, including those in the Gironde, Landes and Var departments, the minister added after a meeting to assess the situation.
In the Gironde department alone, in southwestern France, the fire has covered at least 40,000 hectares – an area four times larger than that of Paris, Nunez later specified.
A total of nearly 200,000 people have been evacuated due to the fires in southwestern France, of which 167,000 in Gironde alone.
Evacuation of Bordeaux, a large city in southwestern France, “is not on the agenda” despite the fire raging several dozen kilometers away, Mayor Thomas Kaznav said today. Between 5,000 and 6,000 people evacuated from surrounding towns have found refuge in the city.
French Prime Minister Sebastien Le Corneille has called a new meeting of the interdepartmental crisis headquarters for the late afternoon due to the forest fires that have swept the country, his office announced.
An evacuation of the large southern French city of Bordeaux is not planned for now, even though a fire is raging several dozen kilometers away, the city's mayor Thomas Cazenave said today, quoted by Agence France-Presse.
Between 5,000 and 6,000 people have found shelter in Bordeaux from surrounding towns because of the fires.
"People in Bordeaux are not preparing for evacuation, we are not affected by the evacuation plan", operating west of the city, the mayor emphasized at a press conference. "This is not on the agenda," he added, although "we will be prepared to deal with any potential situation," he added.
A total of more than 250,000 people have been evacuated so far due to raging wildfires in France and Spain, AFP reported.
In France, the Interior Ministry said 167,000 people had been evacuated in the Gironde department, in addition to around 30,000 evacuated in Landes, while the Spanish Interior Ministry said another 10,000 people had been evacuated, bringing the total in the Iberian kingdom to 45,000.