FRANCE’S raging wildfires are the country’s biggest challenge since the Second World War, Emmanuel Macron has said.
The French president warned the coming weeks will be some of the toughest his nation has ever seen – with a 40C heatwave expected this week.
Wildfires have torn through Gironde in France Credit: AFP via Getty Images
Fires have been tearing through forests in the region Credit: Pacific Coast News
Macron told emergency workers at a crisis meeting in Bordeaux: “We have a situation that is more difficult than at any time since the Second World War.
“We must be realistic: the coming weeks will be tough, and we must persevere. The key is urgency, resilience.”
Sign up for The Jattvibe newsletter
Thank you!
He made the comments in Gironde, the south-western area worst affected by the fire, on Monday evening.
Currently, 2,500 firefighters, 1,500 military personnel and around 1,200 police officers have been deployed to the region.
HOLS IN FLAMES
Is YOUR France or Spain holiday affected by wildfires? Latest travel advice
RACE IS ON
‘Fire cloud’ over Bordeaux as ‘next 24hrs critical’ to save city from wildfire
Burnt area in the town of Le Porge, following a wildfire in Gironde Credit: AFP
Officials say fire crews have been “overwhelmed” by the ferocity of the flames and remain “far from” bringing them under control.
Two people have died due to the wildfires so far with at least 88 injured.
Dozens of homes have been burnt to the ground with an estimated 220,000 people displaced and forced to live in shelters while the flames remain high.
On Monday, French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the flames that had decimated 42,000 hectares of land was stable but not contained.
Fires raging in Gironde, France Credit: Pacific Coast News
Firefighters tackle a blaze as wildfires rage near Le Las, outside Bordeaux, Monday Credit: AP
Around 360,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in France and Spain as infernos tear up neighbourhoods and forests.
Tens of thousands of hectares of land have been swallowed by vicious flames amid record-breaking temperatures.
Calling for unity, Macron also said: “The priority is obviously lives… when it’s necessary to relocate people, we relocate them.
“When it’s necessary to sacrifice forest or sometimes material goods, we do it.”
Emergency workers are battling the flames Credit: AP
Smoke rises from the site of the flames on Monday Credit: AFP
It comes amid fears Bordeaux could be reduced to ashes as authorities battle “apocalyptic” flames.
The fires are now less than seven miles away from the ancient city – with over 850,000 residents being warned Bordeaux is at risk of being reduced to ashes in the coming days.
Authorities in the Gironde region said they were banning holiday camps, including Scouts’ trips with overnight stays and holiday camps for people with disabilities.
Meanwhile in Spain, a new heatwave is set to begin on Wednesday.
Madrid earlier said temperatures would soar and humidity levels drop across Spain.
This would cause the fire risk to “surge to very high or extreme levels across almost the entire country”.
“This situation will persist, or may even worsen, in the following days,” it added.
Spain’s interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said: “Today and tomorrow are absolutely decisive days, because from Wednesday the weather forecasts become highly unfavourable for firefighting efforts.”
Reacting to the forecast, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said: “I ask for understanding and call on all citizens in all the country to exercise extreme caution and take every possible precaution.”
“We face difficult hours, complex hours” ahead, he warned.
The European Union said it would deploy additional aircraft to Spain to help combat the fires.
Over 284,000 acres have been burned due to wildfires since the start of the year, according to Nunez.
He told France 2 television that the country is battling 30 to 40 wildfires every day.
It comes after Gironde firefighting Chief Eric Brocardi compared the battle to contain the inferno as a “David-versus-Goliath scenario”.
Gironde authorities have now banned vacationers from entering the region by closing off several main roads and cancelling holiday camps for children and people with disabilities.
Some of the blazes in the Gironde wildfire are said to be so powerful they have now created a terrifying giant fire cloud which can create its own lightning.
The unprecedented “pyrocumulonimbus” is a dangerous weather system that whips flames around its own winds and can strike and ignite even more fires.
