Paris, July 17 (BNA) Forest fires raged in southwestern France and Spain, forcing thousands of people to leave their homes as scorching summer temperatures alerted authorities in parts of Europe.
About 14,000 people had been evacuated from France’s Gironde region by noon Saturday, regional authorities said, as more than 1,200 firefighters took part in battles to control the flames.
“We have a fire that will continue to spread as long as it does not stabilize,” said Vincent Ferrer, deputy governor of Langon in Gironde.
Forest fires have swept France in recent weeks and other European countries including Portugal and Spain, with more than 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) of land blazing in the Gironde region on Saturday, up from 7,300 hectares on Friday.
38 out of 96 provinces in France have been placed on an “orange” alert, with residents urged to be vigilant.
Firefighters battled a series of fires on Saturday after days of unusually high temperatures of 45.7 degrees Celsius (114 degrees Fahrenheit).
The nearly week-long heatwave has killed 360 people due to the heat, according to figures from the Carlos III Institute of Health.
The region’s emergency services said more than 3,000 people were evacuated from their homes due to a large forest fire near Mijas, a town in Malaga popular with northern European tourists.
Thick black plumes of smoke rose into the air near Casas de Mirafti in the Extremadura region as helicopters dumped water on flames that burned 3,000 hectares, forcing two villages to evacuate, and threatening to reach Montfrag National Park.
“There have been big fires and we don’t want to reactivate them again and we will remain very vigilant this weekend,” said Andre Fernandez, commander of the Emergency and Civil Protection Authority.
The Portuguese Ministry of Health said that 238 people died as a result of the heat wave between July 7 and 13, most of them elderly people suffering from chronic diseases.
ZHB