More than 23,000 people have been evacuated in France due to forest fires. Macron has asked the EU for help
Le Monde reports on this.
It is noted that over 9,000 people have been evacuated due to a fire in the municipality of Biscarrosse in France, where more than 2,500 hectares have already been burnt. Local authorities believe the blaze started in a van that caught fire near a woodland.
The worst damage has been in the Gironde department, where over 800 firefighters are battling the blaze across some 5,000 hectares of land. The authorities have reported that over 20,000 people have had to be evacuated.
Fires have also broken out in Spain, where around 32,000 hectares have been engulfed in flames, making it one of the country’s largest wildfires. In the city of Guadalajara alone, 13 people have died.
Against this backdrop, French President Emmanuel Macron has appealed to EU member states to activate the Civil Protection Mechanism — the bloc’s system for response and cooperation in dealing with the consequences of emergencies.
According to him, France will soon receive two Canadair aircraft from Croatia, two Air Tractor aircraft from Portugal, and two heavy Black Hawk helicopters from the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
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