A forest fire south of Bordeaux forces the evacuation of three municipalities, Landiras, Budos, and Balzac, where about 3,500 people live.
The Gironde department has been dealing with forest fires for almost a week.
Two villages were evacuated west of a fire on Saturday. But the wind direction often changes, and since the night of Sunday to Monday, the wind has been blowing from the west, pushing the fire to the east. The three municipalities are located east of the wildfire.
“The evacuations must always be adapted (to the wind),” according to a firefighter. The fire has already reduced 100 square kilometers to ashes. However, due to the wind and high temperatures of between 40 and 45 degrees, the fire brigade does not yet have a chance to control the fire.
Two large forest fires are raging in Gironde, the one at Landiras and further west on the coast at Arcachon. More than 14,000 hectares of forest have gone up in flames, and 16,000 people have already been evacuated, including 6,000 campers on the beach. About 1,700 firefighters supported by nine firefighting planes tried to get the fire under control.
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