Nearly 3,000 people have been evacuated in southern France and water-bombing planes deployed to battle wildfires after a record-breaking heatwave last month, officials said Thursday, July 2. Tourists and local residents had to be moved after a wildfire broke out in the town of Sainte-Marie-la-Mer and spread to Canet-en-Roussillon, Le Monde reports.
Firefighters said nearly 3,000 people were evacuated with half of them from three campsites in the affected area. Two firefighters suffered minor injuries, said Pierre Regnault de La Mothe, the top regional official for the southern department of Pyrénées-Orientales. Two hundred firefighters and four water-bombing aircraft were deployed to put out the blazes. "We are mobilizing a large network of volunteers," said the prefect.
In June, France experienced a record-breaking heatwave which lasted 11 days and saw temperatures climb above 40°C in many places. Apart from having "major impacts" on human health, ecosystems, agriculture and infrastructure, the extraordinary heatwave worsened the risk of wildfires, the World Meteorological Organization said last week.
Some French politicians have denounced what they call the authorities' inadequate measures to help France face rising temperatures. The Greens on Thursday filed a no-confidence motion against the government of Sébastien Lecornu. Lecornu said on Thursday that "climatic events" had contributed to "fairly severe" and unusually early forest fires.
"We must acknowledge that they are occurring roughly 15 days to three weeks earlier than the usual periods," he said at a crisis meeting in the southern city of Marseille. He said that 7,000 wildfires had been recorded since the start of the season, with 8,700 hectares already destroyed by the flames. The intensity and early onset of the fires will require "a great deal of endurance" from both authorities and firefighters, the prime minister added.
About 2,000 firefighters - including volunteers and military personnel - were mobilized on Wednesday and Thursday. The largest wildfire recorded, which broke out Wednesday in the departments of Aude and Hérault, kept spreading, fanned by the wind, having already scorched about 900 hectares.
Weather conditions remain unfavorable, with wind gusts reaching 70 kilometers per hour and continuing to strengthen, officials say. The Météo-France weather agency said a new spell of high temperatures would hit the country next week, although they are not expected to be as extreme as in June.
