The wildfires in southwestern France are increasing. More than a thousand firefighters have not yet managed to get the fire under control. The heat wave is also hitting Spain considerably: since July 10, 360 people have already died.
10,000 hectares of forest are on fire in the French department of Gironde on Saturday. On Friday it was still about 7,300 hectares. The flames continue to spread in Landiras too: about 6,500 hectares of nature have already been burned there. More than 3,000 hectares of forest have been burned in Teste-de-Buch.
More than 12,200 people have been evacuated in the past week, according to local authorities. Both residents and tourists had to flee from the fires.
France has been dealing with forest fires for weeks due to persistent drought and extremely high temperatures. Several forest fires have also started in Greece, Portugal, Croatia and other countries in southern Europe. The strong wind makes it difficult to control the flames in many countries.
In addition to causing forest fires, the high temperatures in Spain have also cost several lives. Local authorities report on Saturday that 360 people have died as a result of the heat wave in the country since July 10. The death toll stood at 123 on Friday.
Due to the heat wave, weather alerts are in effect in both Spain and Portugal. On Wednesday, a temperature of 45.5 degrees was measured in Andalusia.