More than 10,000 people have been evacuated from the path of a devastating wildfire which has scorched more than 2,000 hectares in the commune of Saumos in the Gironde department of Nouvelle-Aquitaine
A horrifying “tornado of fire” has swept through a popular holiday hotspot with 10,000 people evacuated from the path of the raging inferno.
More than 2,000 hectares of land has been destroyed by the wildfire in the commune of Saumos in France’s Gironde department of Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
The popular tourist region of Arcachon Bay has been evacuated by authorities as the fire threatened homes and businesses in the area.
Many of those forced to leave are holidaymakers staying at nearby campsites as the inferno draws closer to the popular spot.
A wildfire in a forest near Lège-Cap-Ferret, southwest of Bordeaux, has spread across more than 31 square kilometres (12 square miles), local authorities said.
Despite the massive area affected by the fire there are currently no reports of injuries.
The prefect of the Gironde region, Sophie Brocas, reported that around 700 firefighters have been mobilised to combat the fire, including reinforcements from the Paris region.
The flames threatened to overwhelm the town of Lège, with the edge of the fire approaching to within 300 metres (980 feet) of homes on the edge of the settlement.
The disaster comes after relentless heatwaves left local forests bone-dry and vulnerable to sparks, with Interior Minister Laurent Nunez revealing a staggering 12,500 wildfires have erupted across France this year alone, destroying nearly 44,000 hectares of land.
Southern Europe is gripped by scorching temperatures as Spain’s national weather agency AEMET warned that the country’s third heatwave of the summer, which began on Tuesday, is expected to last throughout the week, with temperatures forecast to reach 44C on Thursday.
Firefighters in central Spain battled a blaze on Wednesday that has burned more than 32,000 hectares in one of the country’s largest wildfires on record. The fire, which broke out on July 16 near La Mierla in Guadalajara province, north-east of Madrid, forced the evacuation of several hundred people.
In Italy, wildfires continued to burn on Wednesday in parts of the Casaboli forest, located in the Sicilian mountains between the towns of Monreale and Pioppo.
