France Fears Winds Will Fan Wildfires as Spain Gets Some Relief

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(Bloomberg) — France fears that shifting winds and rising temperatures could fan the flames of massive wildfires in the southwest, even as Spain experienced some relief from the blazes near Madrid.

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On Tuesday, regional officials ordered the evacuation of about 4,000 people from campsites and other tourist accommodation in the town of Lacanau. The size of the fire and winds expected to change direction multiple times were among the concerns prompting the decision, said Lacanau Mayor Laurent Peyrondet.

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“We’re still facing very, very harsh weather conditions,” Peyrondet told reporters, as he explained the latest evacuation.

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The fourth heat wave to engulf western Europe since the end of May will bring temperatures as high as 41C (106F) to southwest France on Wednesday. Wind speeds in Bordeaux are set to increase to 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) per hour with gusts twice as strong, according to Meteo-France.

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That risks turbocharging the fires that have ravaged villages and forests to the west and south of the city of Bordeaux, forcing the evacuation of more than 200,000 residents and tourists.

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“The situation remains complicated, obviously, we’re not in the clear yet,” the region’s prefect, Sophie Brocas, told reporters Tuesday evening. She also cited the wind as a complicating factor.

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The blaze in France’s Gironde department was characterized by a pyrocumulonimbus — an extremely powerful fire-generated thunderstorm, according to Francesca Di Giuseppe, fire forecast coordinator at the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts. Such events are well documented in Australia, Canada and the US, where they are associated with the most extreme wildfires, but they remain relatively rare in Europe, she said.

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Spain and France have been at the epicenter of Europe’s wildfire season, which came early this year and accelerated in recent weeks as successive heat waves baked vegetation, making easier for flames to spread rapidly. 

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“We have entered an era of fires that cannot be extinguished,” said Víctor Resco de Dios, a professor of forestry engineering and global change at the University of Lleida. “These are fires that burn with the intensity of several atomic bombs and, as such, putting them out is extremely complex.”

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Temperatures in parts of Spain will also climb to 40C on Wednesday, further straining the emergency services, but there were signs of progress in containing the fires around Madrid.

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After the advance of active fire fronts was contained overnight, evacuation and shelter-in-place orders were lifted in several municipalities across the Community of Madrid and the province of Ávila on Tuesday afternoon. That allowed about 20,000 residents to return home and another 14,000 people to emerge from confinement.

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Still, most of Spain is under very high wildfire risk, according to meteorological agency Aemet. Wildfires have have so far burned over 170,000 hectares in Spain, six times more than in the year-earlier period.

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—With assistance from Eamon Akil Farhat.

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