Brits heading to wildfire-hit holiday destinations have been warned by Foreign Office and ABTA to ‘check ahead’ as flames continued to spread rapidly across southwest France and northern Spain
British holidaymakers heading to wildfire-hit regions of France have been told to stay away from Bordeaux as the number of evacuations soared past 300,000.
The Foreign Office issued the alert to UK tourists and expats on Sunday as the fires – which have been raging across southwest France and the northern tip of Spain since July 21 – spread further into heavily populated areas along the Bay of Biscay.
The new travel advice said: “French authorities have evacuated campsites, tourist accommodation and some residential areas. Access to affected areas may be restricted and roads may close at short notice. Further evacuations may take place.
“If you are in an affected area, or planning to travel there: follow instructions and updates from local authorities and emergency services at all times, and call 112 if you need emergency help. Check with your accommodation or travel provider before travelling.”
A total of 65,000 to 70,000 British citizens live across the southern regions of France, making up roughly 43 per cent of the country’s total British population, while French interior data tracks about 172,000 resident British citizens. Around nine to 10 million British residents visit France each year.
Tourists have been told to stay away from Bordeaux in France as fires have advanced to within nine miles of the city. Local official Sophie Brocas said: “We urge tourists not to come to this region, at least until the situation is under control. I encourage tourists who are already here to consider another destination.”
Karen Kissane, 51, from Newcastle, was on holiday in Barcelona when she first heard about the fires in Bordeaux, which where she has made her home. She told the Mirror: “It was horrifying and really frightening. I was not sure what I was returning back to.”
After landing back in Bordeaux on Sunday, Karen said the pungent smell of smoke immediately hit her. “When I got off the plane and walked down the steps, the smell of burning in the air really hit me. It just felt really hot and humid, and there was wind in the air that was blowing the burning smell around. I could really sense that the fires could spread quickly because of the breeze,” she added.
Karen revealed some of her friends were forced to leave their holiday homes in the nearby Cap Ferret peninsula as firefighters battled the flames. She added: “I do have some friends who have holiday properties in Cap Ferret and the areas that are worst hit, and they’ve been evacuated. I know of people who were evacuated at 3am, and they literally had to pick everything up and leave. For anyone who’s holidaying in that area, it’s an, it’s an absolute no-go.”
A spokesperson for ABTA said Brits heading to affected regions “should monitor the local news in the regions and any instructions or updates from the local authorities, as well as any guidance provided by their accommodation provider and travel company”.
They added: “We would also advise people scheduled to travel to check the Foreign Office advice for travel to France and Spain.”
More than 220,000 people have now been evacuated in the Girdone region of France as the latest estimates put the total area of the fires at 162 square miles. Local government chiefs in Bordeaux were last night [Sun] considering a “total evacuation” of the city of 260,000 people as wildfires approached its outer limits.
The city told residents of its northern outer suburbs over the weekend as Bordeaux Mayor Thomas Cazenave described the blaze as being “at the gates” of the wider metropolitan area.
A Gironde official meanwhile ordered the partial closure of a major highway heading in and out of the city, and French national railway operator, SNCF, has suspended rail traffic south of Bordeaux until further notice.
Around 1,000 to 1,150 British citizens live directly within the city of Bordeaux, while nearly 40,000 reside across the wider region.
Jérôme Sordel, 53, an estate agent from the suburb of Saint-Médard-en-Jalles, said he, his wife and his children were ordered to leave the family home on Saturday night.
He told the Mirror: “We spoke to our children and we just prepared a small backpack with the essentials: some shirts, some clothes, a bottle of water, and masks. Masks because there was a lot of smoke, just to protect ourselves. And all our identity papers. And that’s it – we just left.”
When asked whether he knows when the family might return home, Jérôme said: “We don’t have any, any information about that because the authorities, they are just managing it. They are dealing with the emergency.
“So they have to fight, the fire first. And when they have the information they will tell us, right now, with the wind is turning sometime so to the north, to the east, to the west. So the firemen, have to deal with, with this. I’m very proud, of them and, and this, I thank them that a lot.”
In Spain, flames continue to spread through rural areas west of Madrid in the provinces of Toledo and Avila. Several fires have merged in the region, leading to the emergency evacuations of 70,000 people. One person died on Saturday in the Spanish town of Manises after being found in a car in a ravine near a forest fire.
Over the weekend, a new blaze began spreading across a 13-mile area in the Val d’Uixo region, just north of Valencia, which local mayor Tania Baños warned was rapidly becoming “completely uncontrollable”.
Thousands of firefighters in France and Spain, supported by water-bombing aircraft from neighbouring European nations, have been deployed to battle the flames.
But their task has been made punishingly difficult by temperatures of over 40C, prolonged drought conditions, and shifting coastal winds.
At the end of his Sunday Angelus prayer, Pope Leo XIV asked worshippers to pray for victims of “the devastating wildfires” and said: “I express my solidarity and invite everyone to pray for those affected and for the work of the rescue workers”.
It comes as residents were finally allowed to return to their homes in the Cairngorms, Scotland, late on Saturday after an “apocalyptic” fire was tackled by over 500 firefighters and volunteer gamekeepers.
In the Peak District, fire crews said they have made “significant progress” in recent days in their efforts to contain a blaze on Tintwistle Moor, near Glossop, which has been burning for over a month. Temperatures are set to reach highs of 32C or 33C in southern England on Wednesday, bringing a risk of exceptionally severe fires.
A yellow heat alert has been issued from 9am on Tuesday to 9am Friday for the East and West Midlands, the south-east, south-west and east of England, as well as Yorkshire and the Humber. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) issued the warning of possible “significant impacts” on health and social care services, including a rise in deaths among the elderly or people with health conditions, and an increase in drownings.
Forecasters are expecting this week’s heat to be a “north-south split”, with clouds and outbreaks of rain continuing in Northern Ireland, Scotland and northern England. But the peak will be “almost a blink and you miss it”, with temperatures widely cooling close to average by the weekend, said Met Office senior operational meteorologist Dan Stroud.
Wildfires, low water levels and drought are a result of the record-breaking temperatures and their longevity, as the UK faces more extreme weather fuelled by human-caused climate change, mostly from burning fossil fuels.
