More than 250,000 people have been ordered to flee their homes in southwest France as a massive wildfire — fuelled by a rare ‘fire cloud’ generating its own thunderstorms — bears down on the city of Bordeaux, now just seven miles away.
The blaze, which began in Gironde on Wednesday, has already scorched 42,000 hectares of land, an area four times the size of Paris. Two firefighters have died and 84 have been injured. French President Emmanuel Macron held an emergency cabinet meeting on Monday to discuss the crisis, though he said Bordeaux itself would not be evacuated.
“Quarter of a million flee France wildfires as a rare ‘fire cloud’ generates its own thunderstorms near Bordeaux.”
Firefighters are battling an almost impossible task. The inferno has created a pyrocumulonimbus, or “fire cloud” — a phenomenon where intense heat and energy drive a plume of smoke so high that it condenses into a thunderstorm, producing its own winds and lightning. “We don’t know how the blaze will spread; the fire front is constantly shifting,” said Eric Brocardi, spokesperson for France’s National Firefighters Federation. “We cannot fight it directly. It’s a David-versus-Goliath scenario.”
The flames have forced the closure of the hotel zone at Bordeaux Airport. France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez described the situation as “very unfavourable”, warning the fire is moving unpredictably towards the city.
Across the border in Spain, the crisis is also deepening. Spain has declared its first ever national emergency over a wildfire, with 25,000 people ordered to evacuate and almost 40,000 told to stay indoors. A major fire west of Madrid has already forced 70,000 people to leave their homes. Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said “today and tomorrow are absolutely decisive days” because from Wednesday weather forecasts become “highly unfavourable”.
In the UK, Scottish police declared a major incident after a change in wind conditions accelerated a fire in the Cairngorms National Park, prompting precautionary evacuations. The Scottish government has requested aerial support from the UK military.
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said: “My thoughts are with everyone affected by the wildfires in Europe. British nationals should follow the advice of local authorities.” Despite the devastation, French minister Éléonore Caroit urged tourists not to cancel their travel plans, saying “most other regions are okay”.
As firefighters brace for “decisive days”, the fire cloud continues to shift — and no one can say where it will turn next.