Meteorologists warned of a “heat apocalypse” in western France as more than 8,500 people fled their homes to escape a major forest fire sparked by a scorching southern European heatwave that has already caused hundreds of deaths.
Nearly 25,000 people were forced from homes, holiday rentals and campsites for emergency shelters in the Gironde department west of Bordeaux, with fires in Spain, Portugal and Greece forcing thousands more to flee.
Temperatures in southern Europe showed some signs of easing on Monday as a heatwave that saw temperatures exceed 40C (104F) in much of the region moved north, including to Britain, which was set for the hottest day in history.
Deadly forest fires are destroying thousands of hectares of land across Europe
“It never stops,” said David Brunner, one of 1,500 firefighters battling the Gironde fire, which has since Tuesday destroyed 14,000 hectares of pine forest near the Dune du Pilat, Europe’s highest sand dune and hot point for summer tourism. “In 30 years of firefighting, I’ve never seen a fire like this.”
An area 5.5 miles (9 km) long and 5 miles wide was still burning near the dune on Monday, with temperatures in the area forecast to reach 44C.
“We are refugees from climate change,” Theo Dayan, 26, told Le Monde after fleeing his home near the village of La Teste-de-Buch. Jean-Luc Glaze, head of the local fire service, said: “We don’t reach out and touch global warming – it hits us in the face.”
Forest fire near Luchat in Gironde. “It never stops,” one firefighter said of the wildfire in the region. Photo: Thibaud Moritz/AFP/Getty Images
France’s interior ministry said it would send an additional three firefighting planes, 200 firefighters and more trucks. “In some southwestern areas it will be a heat apocalypse,” meteorologist Francois Gourand told Agence France-Presse.
Fifteen departments have been placed on the highest level of alert for extreme temperatures, including Brittany, where the coastal city of Brest was set to reach 40C on Monday, almost twice the usual July average.
Forest fires in France
Last week’s extreme temperatures directly killed at least four people in Spain and ignited dozens of wildfires – many of which are still burning – that have consumed almost 30,000 hectares (75,000 acres) across the country.
On Monday, the regional government of Castile and León said the body of a 69-year-old man, who was said to have been a shepherd, had been found in a burned area near the small town of Escober de Tabara in Zamora province.
The previous day, authorities in the region also confirmed the death of firefighter Daniel Gulon Vara, who died fighting the flames in the same province. A 50-year-old man died of heatstroke on Sunday in Torrejón de Ardos, near Madrid.
A 60-year-old street sweeper died after suffering heat stroke on the job in Madrid on Friday afternoon, prompting the city council to announce flexible working hours so municipal workers could avoid the hottest parts of the day.
Forest fires in Spain
In the south of the country, more than 3,200 people fled fires in the Mijas hills, not far from Malaga, although some managed to return later. Spain’s Carlos III Institute of Public Health reported that 360 deaths were attributed to the heat between last Sunday and Friday – 123 of whom died on Friday alone.
During a visit to the southwestern region of Extremadura on Monday morning, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez paid tribute to Gulón Vara and said the events of the previous week were further evidence of the climate crisis.
“I want to make something very clear,” he said. “Climate change kills: it kills people, as we have seen; it is also killing our ecosystem, our biodiversity and it is also destroying the things that we as a society hold dear – our houses, our businesses, our livestock.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (centre) visits an area affected by a forest fire in Puerto de Miravete, western Spain. Photo: Ballesteros/EPA
Spain’s heatwave, with highs of 45C and record temperatures in many parts of the country, is expected to end on Monday.
In neighboring Portugal – where temperatures reached 47C last week – the fire was brought under control after destroying 12,000-15,000 hectares of land, killing two people and injuring 60 others.
Temperatures dropped over the weekend, but the risk of forest fires remains very high, according to the Portuguese Institute of Meteorology (IPMA). More than 1,000 firefighters, supported by 285 vehicles and 14 aircraft, were battling nine wildfires, mainly in the northern regions of the country, authorities said.
As the hot air mass heads north, Belgium and Germany were among the countries expecting the heat wave to hit them in the coming days. Britain was also on course for its hottest day on record on Monday, with temperatures forecast to reach 40C.
The government issued a red alert for extreme heat for the first time, while trains were canceled, some schools closed early and ministers urged the public to stay at home.
“We were hoping we wouldn’t get to this situation, but for the first time we’re forecasting over 40C in the UK,” said Nikos Christidis of the Met Office. The previous national high, 38.7C, was recorded in Cambridge in 2019.
After a report concluded that weather disasters triggered by the climate crisis had cost Germany at least €80bn (£68bn) since 2018, German Environment Minister Steffi Lemke said the “horrific” figures show the “enormous damage” of the climate crisis.
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The report, published on Monday and commissioned by the economy and environment ministries, estimated the impact of drought, floods and extreme heat in Germany between 2000 and 2021 at nearly 145 billion euros, most of it in recent years.
“The numbers sound the alarm for more prevention when it comes to climate,” Lemke said. “We must and will invest more in climate protection and adaptation to protect our people.”
Heatwaves are occurring more frequently, are more severe and last longer due to human-induced climate change. The world has warmed by about 1.1C since the start of the industrial era, and temperatures will continue to rise unless carbon emissions are sharply reduced.
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