French government mobilises military as wildfires persist near Bordeaux
President Emmanuel Macron has ordered military support while Prime Minister Sebastian Lecornu chairs a crisis meeting, as blazes continue to threaten southwestern France.
Firefighters in southwestern France are continuing to battle wildfires that remain active near the city of Bordeaux, according to reports from Al Jazeera Global News. The ongoing blazes have prompted a significant government response, with Interior Minister Laurent Nunez confirming the scale of the crisis and pledging to protect the urban centre.
The French government has escalated its operational response to the disaster. President Emmanuel Macron has mobilised the military to assist with containment efforts, while Prime Minister Sebastian Lecornu is chairing a government crisis meeting to coordinate the national response.
Interior Minister Nunez has verified that more than 110,000 people have been evacuated from the affected regions. The scale of the destruction is substantial, with wildfires having already destroyed 14,000 hectares of forest across the area.
Specifically, a fire located north of Arcachon Bay has accounted for the majority of the damage, destroying more than 12,500 hectares. The persistence of these fires near Bordeaux underscores the severity of the situation for local authorities and emergency services.
The crisis in France mirrors similar emergency measures in neighbouring Spain, where a national emergency has been declared following the merger of two major wildfires west of Madrid. That incident has forced the evacuation of more than 19,000 residents, highlighting a broader pattern of extreme fire activity across the region.
