A raging wildfire in southwest France forced the evacuation of 55,000 people overnight Sunday, bringing the total forced out of their homes to 220,000 in one region alone, as flames crept ever closer to the wine region city of Bordeaux. Neighboring Spain also issued evacuation orders on its east coast.
Authorities in the Gironde region, where Bordeaux is situated, ordered evacuations for five additional localities southwest of the historic city overnight. Shifting, gusting winds and arid conditions complicated the massive effort to limit the fire’s spread.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez stated that after a "difficult" night for fire crews, "the situation remains very unfavorable."
The Gironde prefecture reported that gusting winds fueled the flames overnight Sunday in southwest France, accelerating the spread of the monster blaze which has burned out of control since midweek.
Nunez posted on X that "The fire again became extremely virulent and unpredictable, generating its own winds and advancing erratically toward the Bordeaux metropolitan area," adding that it "became calmer by the end of the night."
The burned area, comprising much of pine forests and scrubland dried by successive heat waves this year, grew inexorably. By Sunday morning, the Gironde prefecture estimated the expansion reached 42,000 hectares (162 square miles), which is seven times the size of Manhattan island and four times the size of Paris.
Firefighters are working to slow the flames' progression toward Bordeaux using both ground and air efforts, with planes dropping water and retardants. Soldiers have been called in to supplement fire crews’ exhausting round-the-clock work.
Bordeaux Mayor Thomas Cazenave described the fire as being "at the gates of the metropolitan area," noting it had advanced to approximately 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the city at its closest point. The Gironde prefect subsequently ordered a partial closure of a major highway serving the city.
A separate fire burning farther south in the Landes region has also prompted the evacuation of 30,000 people this week, raising the total number displaced in the southwest to over 250,000.
In neighboring Spain, authorities managed new evacuations due to wildfires in the Valencia region. In total, uncontrolled blazes there and others west of Madrid this week have forced 116,000 people from their homes.
Local government reported that a wildfire in a bushy ravine in Manises, a suburb of Valencia, killed one man on Saturday after raging out of control for four hours, marking Spain’s first recorded death in the recent fires. Earlier this month, 13 individuals died in a fire in southern Spain, which was the country's deadliest blaze in recent memory.