Firefighters have contained vast wildfires in both countries, but winds are high and temperatures rising. Spain’s prime minister said the next 12 hours would be “decisive.”
Officials said they had contained the spread of vast fires in both countries, but warned that rising temperatures and high winds meant the situation was still fluid.
The continent is experiencing some of its biggest fires and highest temperatures ever. Residents are fleeing, leaders are struggling to respond and “it will get worse,” one climate expert said.
One of the largest fires in modern French history is raging near the vineyards of Bordeaux. That is just the latest problem for France’s embattled wine industry.
Faced with massive blazes, firefighters in both countries are using a brief window of opportunity to bring the flames under control before temperatures spike.
One of the largest fires in modern French history is raging near the vineyards of Bordeaux. That is just the latest problem for France’s embattled wine industry.
With firefighters stretched thin, volunteers put themselves at risk, using water tanks, hoses and tractors to hold back flames from villages and farms in southwestern France.
Soaring temperatures in parts of France, Spain and Portugal could combine with dry conditions and strong winds to worsen the wildfire threat. It is the fourth heat wave to affect Europe since May.
A pyrocumulonimbus — a thundercloud created by intense heat — is a phenomenon that can spark new blazes and is “unprecedented in France,” officials said.
With surrounding towns in southwestern France evacuated and fire still spreading rapidly, several thousand are sheltering in the city, unsure what will become of their homes.
In central Spain, thousands of people sleep in shelters or in their cars, some of them evacuated multiple times ahead of the advancing flames, awaiting word on what they left behind.
While Mark Carney weighs his next steps, some provincial leaders point to oil, electricity and potash as powerful leverage against U.S. economic pressure.
Hundreds of thousands of people in France and Spain have been forced to evacuate from huge blazes fueled by soaring temperatures and tinder-dry conditions.
French officials ordered the evacuation of the Cap Ferret Peninsula, a popular holiday destination. Fires west of Madrid were closing in on populated areas.
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