French President Emmanuel Macron called a crisis meeting Monday focusing on monster, uncontrolled wildfires that have forced more than 250,000 people to flee their homes, amid a first glimmer of hope that the spread of the largest blaze may have slowed.
In the Gironde region of southwest France, where flames have burned an area four times the size of Paris, the prefecture said the situation overnight had remained “globally stable” — a change from successive days where the giant blaze raging since last week had edged closer to the wine region city of Bordeaux.
No new evacuations were announced. But with France about to enter its peak August tourist season, Gironde authorities took more steps to keep vacationers away, banning holiday camps for children and for people with disabilities.
On the ground and in the air, with water- and retardant-dropping aircraft, the massive firefighting effort was engaged in a race against time, battling to make progress before a forecast surge in temperatures from Tuesday that could make fighting flames more difficult.
The government crisis meeting was scheduled for Monday morning, with Macron presiding. In a weekend post on X, he pledged long-term support for fire-hit communities, saying: “We will rebuild, we will repair and we will be present for as long as necessary.”
In Spain, wildfires have burned out of control around Madrid. Fire evacuations were also carried out Sunday in the Valencia region.
A total of 76,000 people have been evacuated in Spain while 30,000 others have been confined to their homes, the government said.
Evacuees fretted about what they’ll find when they’re allowed to return.
“It looked like the apocalypse. You couldn’t see anything. Everything was covered in ash,” said Rocío Domínguez, who evacuated with her dog, Simba, from Chapinería, west of Madrid.
“We don’t know when we get to the town, if we’ll have half the house burned down or we’ll have it intact or we won’t have a house,” she said. “All the clothes, all the memories, everything.”
