French authorities have allowed 84,000 people who were forced to leave their homes because of a major wildfire to return to their homes in southwestern France, following improvements in the situation on the ground.
The wildfire, one of the largest France has faced this summer, forced a major evacuation operation as flames spread through dry forests in the southwest. Thousands of residents and visitors were moved to temporary shelters, hotels and other accommodation facilities while firefighters worked to extinguish the fire.
This is the strongest sign yet that firefighters are turning a corner in their battle against the flames that have burned an area four times the size of Paris.
The returns authorized in France covered nine localities that had been evacuated, including several where firefighters and water-dropping planes had battled flare-ups just the day before. Higher humidity, cooler temperatures and slight rain have raised hopes that today could be a decisive step on the way to stop the fire.
Nearly two-thirds of the 224,000 people initially ordered to evacuate their homes in southwest France have now been allowed to go home. Some 60,000 people who had been evacuated from three Bordeaux suburbs were given the go-ahead to return on Tuesday.
Evacuees immediately streamed back today to emptied towns and villages. Local officials reported a “rather calm” night, with a fire that has not grown beyond the 42,000 hectares (about 162 sq. miles) already affected. Some expressed hope that hard-hit businesses could soon get back to work.
The regional prefecture said that returning evacuees must keep their phones on for evacuation alerts and should pack in case they need to leave again.
Authorities also said the A63 highway that has been closed since the weekend was reopening this afternoon, clearing a major artery for road traffic with Spain and vacationers as France enters its peak August holiday period. Other European countries have sent firefighting resources into the region.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez announced further boosts in the number of firefighters engaged, now 3,300, backed by two dozen planes and helicopters that dump water and fire retardant onto smoldering woodlands. Nunez said that in a first, police water cannons usually used for riot control have been deployed in to help extinguish embers and flare-ups.
Crews using heavy diggers continued ripping up trees and bushes to carve broad stretches of barren land between woodlands that have burned and those that have been spared, trying to box in the giant blaze with new firebreaks, now exceeding a total of 130 kilometers (80 miles) through the forests.
Temperatures that peaked around 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) a day earlier were dropping on today, set to top out at 27 C (80 F) along the coast. An “orange” heat wave alert, the second-highest level after “red”, was lifted shortly before dawn.
Spain Continues To Battle Multiple Blazes
In Spain, which was battling one of its largest wildfires on record this week, firefighters tackled multiple blazes in places like northwestern Zamora and eastern Castellón today, even as they made progress the day before to stabilize the two main fires of concern in the Madrid region and Ávila.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez warned of a new heatwave, saying, “Let us all exercise the utmost caution and prevention, as some of these fires are caused by human recklessness.”
Europe is enduring one of its hottest summers on record, with wildfires breaking out in areas stretching from the Atlantic coast to the eastern Mediterranean and hundreds of thousands of people ordered to evacuate from homes and vacation destinations.
Firefighters fanned out to battle infernos in places like England, Spain, and Turkey, while in Romania, officials at the state-owned Cernavoda nuclear power plant shut down both of its reactors because of the low level of Danube River waters used to cool them.
In England today, more than 90 firefighters were tackling a blaze on heathland near the eastern coast, where dozens of people have been evacuated from homes, vacation cottages and a mobile home park. Officials have declared half of England officially in drought after more than a month without rain in many areas.
The wildfire emergency stretched from the Atlantic coast to the eastern Mediterranean: Authorities in Greece said Wednesday that three firefighters had died on the island on Crete. In neighboring Turkey today, firefighters were tackling multiple forest fires in four western provinces.
Blazes in touristic Mugla and Antalya and elsewhere raged overnight as hot weather and strong winds gripped the region. Residents were evacuated as teams with firefighting planes and helicopters battled the fires.
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