More than 160,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in France and Spain due to the outbreak of large, out-of-control wildfires. The situation in the affected regions requires urgent measures to ensure public safety, with evacuations carried out in several phases to prevent loss of life and material damage.
During the night into Saturday, a further evacuation was conducted from seven municipalities near the French city of Bordeaux. These include larger settlements such as Mérignac with 78,000 and Eysines with 24,800 residents, which have been partially engulfed by flames. Smaller municipalities such as Saint-Médard-en-Jalles (33,000), Le Haillan (11,400) and Saint-Jean-d’Illac (9,600) have seen the complete evacuation of their inhabitants.
Sophie Brocas, the president of the Gironde department in south-west France, confirmed that residents of Martignas-sur-Jalles (8,000) and Saint-Aubin-de-Médoc (7,800) were also forced to leave their homes. The affected area is known as a very popular tourist destination, which further complicates the logistics of evacuation and the provision of temporary accommodation for thousands of people.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced a significant reinforcement of security forces following a meeting of the intergovernmental crisis body on Friday evening. It is planned to increase the number of troops deployed to assist firefighters from the current 500 to a total of 1,000 in the Gironde and Landes departments, in order to more effectively combat the wildfires.
