France and Spain race to contain fires before new heat wave
Firefighters in France and Spain rushed to contain the worst wildfires in living memory Tuesday, seizing crucial hours before the arrival of another wave of searing temperatures.
Blazes have ripped through vast swaths of woodland in both countries, incinerating properties and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people—residents and tourists alike.
A large wildfire raging near the French winemaking capital of Bordeaux created a rare pyrocumulonimbus cloud—a phenomenon that can create wind and lightning.
In the southwestern city's surrounding Gironde region, tractors fitted with blades to clear land, pickups towing water tanks and logging trucks sped to join a convoy of fire engines on Monday.
"We want to help ... I want nature to stay like it is," said 25-year-old farmer and wood transporter Christopher Bonnefond.
Absolutely decisive
New heat waves are expected to hit western Europe this week, with searing temperatures returning in France from Tuesday and in Spain from Wednesday, meteorologists said.
Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said the coming hours would be "absolutely decisive" to tame fires burning west of the capital, Madrid.
In France, the focus was on the blaze near Bordeaux.
Firefighters said Tuesday the fire had not expanded overnight as they managed to tackle several flare-ups.
French President Emmanuel Macron put the fires down to the 'conditions of climate change in which we will live'