The south of France is once again battling the flames. While hundreds of firefighters try to control the natural belts, thousands of residents and holidaymakers have been evacuated as a precaution.
An estimated 3,000 campers and residents from villages north of Montpellier had to leave the area as a precaution. The fear is that a fire, which already destroyed 700 hectares there, will spread even further.
The fire rages on a rocky outcrop that is difficult to reach. This, together with the drought, makes extinguishing very difficult. The French fire brigade therefore estimates that it will take three more days to get the fire under control. Two firefighters suffered minor injuries.
Things are also going wrong in the Gironde, the southwestern region around Bordeaux. A large fire broke out at Landiras on Tuesday. This comes on top of the gigantic fire that raged there last July. At least 3,500 people have now been evacuated from the wooded area as a precaution, 1,000 hectares have already been destroyed there.
The fire brigade considers the situation ‘very unfavorable’ due to the wind and drought and expects to be busy extinguishing the fire at least all night. At the risk of his own life, as can be seen in the images below. “Back in hell again,” tweeted the French fire brigade, sharing the images.
All in all, more than 50,000 hectares have been burned in France this year. In July, the country had a record number of burned areas. This was shown by calculations by the European Commission’s Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), which has been keeping such statistics since 2006.