A wildfire that broke out in Le Baudouin, near Paris, on July 12 continues to spread into July 13 without being contained. [Reuters]
A wildfire that broke out in Le Baudouin, near Paris, on July 12 continues to spread into July 13 without being contained. [Reuters]

Wildfires erupting simultaneously across Europe have forced tens of thousands of residents and summer vacationers to flee. Spain declared a national state of emergency over wildfires for the first time in history, while France called on the EU for emergency assistance.

Spain's government declared a state of emergency late Thursday as fires broke out across the country and weather conditions — including a heat wave and strong winds — continued to deteriorate, according to Reuters and The Guardian.

The regional government of Madrid described the fires near Villadelprado and San Martín de Valdeiglesias as an "extremely serious situation" that could exceed its own firefighting capacity, and asked the central government for support. About 10,000 people were evacuated in the Madrid region alone, and military emergency response units were deployed.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on X, formerly Twitter, that "the government is deploying all available resources to combat fires across Spain," urging citizens to exercise extreme caution.

According to the European Forest Fire Information System, wildfires have burned about 125,000 hectares in Spain this year — more than twice the area of Seoul. Scorching temperatures, dry weather and strong winds are blamed for the rapid spread, with the Murcia region recently recording a high of 44.7 degrees Celsius.

France is also seeing wildfire damage escalate rapidly. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said 32 fires of varying sizes were burning simultaneously across the country.

In the southwestern Gironde region, fires have burned more than 10,000 hectares and forced about 40,000 people to evacuate or prepare to do so. Some 80 homes were destroyed, about 50 of them completely. The resort town of Cap-Ferret was placed under a full evacuation order.

In the neighboring Landes region, fires consumed 2,500 hectares and displaced 23,000 people, with about 100 homes burned or destroyed. As France's own firefighting capacity proved insufficient, the government requested activation of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. Croatia, Portugal, the Czech Republic and Slovakia are set to provide firefighting aircraft and heavy helicopters in response.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the situation was "extremely urgent due to the fires sweeping the country, particularly the Gironde," urging citizens to avoid even minor carelessness that could spark a blaze.


brunch@heraldcorp.com