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About 12,000 people have been evacuated from the south-west of France and authorities are moving 8,800 others as wildfires spread in the Gironde region.
Local officials said some 3,400 hectares (8,400 acres) of land have already been destroyed around the Bay of Arcachon, as about 700 firefighters battle the flames.
Many of those who had to leave the area overnight were visitors to local campsites on the Lège-Cap-Ferret peninsula and the latest evacuations also involved campsites as a precaution.
Wildfires have also broken out in Spain and Italy in recent days. Residents were evacuated near Toledo south of Madrid and a firefighter died after falling ill while tackling a blaze in Sicily.
The Gironde prefect, Sophie Brocas, said 10,000 visitors were among those evacuated from campsites overnight and the latest evacuations were going ahead “calmly” in the village of Claouey, on the shore of Arcachon Bay.
Brocas said no injuries had been reported. Some sites and roads were being closed in exposed forest areas.
“The work was relentless all night,” said Gironde fire service chief Marc Vermeulen, who warned that temperatures were rising and the wind was getting stronger. “It’ll peak at 20:00. Then we’ll have to deal with… highly variable winds so we’re currently tackling a fire that is going to be difficult to predict and that’s why we cannot relax our guard.”
Two local firefighters died earlier this week fighting another fire close to Bordeaux airport.
Yassmina de Freitas, 19, who lives in the coastal town of Le Porge, said she noticed smoke and the smell of burning at lunchtime on Wednesday.
By the afternoon “ash… [and] half-burned tree bark” were falling, the sky was “very dark” and the smoke was getting “thicker and thicker”.
At around 20:00 local time (19:00 BST), her family was evacuated by law enforcement and taken to a gymnasium in a neighbouring town. They had to leave two of their cats and four chickens behind as they could not be found in the flurry to leave.
BBC
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