France and Britain suffered from soaring temperatures on Wednesday, drawing closer to the sweltering heat already engulfing Spain and Portugal as wildfires ravaged much of western Europe’s forested areas.
Much of the Iberian Peninsula has seen temperatures in excess of 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) this week.
In south-west France, a wildfire that had been raging since Tuesday had destroyed 1,000 hectares of pine trees south of Bordeaux by Wednesday, prompting the evacuation of 150 residents from their homes.
Near the Dune of Pilat – Europe’s highest sand dune – another fire consumed about 700 hectares of old pine trees, authorities said, with the blaze still uncontained.
Regional Prefect Fabienne Buccio told reporters the fires had spread five kilometers (three miles), fueled by parched vegetation.
About 6,000 campers near the dune were evacuated as firefighters worked the sandy site all night.
Further inland, around the village of Guillos, 500 people were evacuated as their homes were threatened by approaching fire.
– ‘It was scary’ –
“There were flames in the tops of the 100-foot trees,” Mayor Mylene Doreau told AFP. “We could see them moving towards the village, it was scary.”
Around 600 firefighters fought the flames in the region with the help of water bombers.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne warned that the heat, which is expected to last 10 days, is “very quickly affecting people’s health, particularly that of the most vulnerable”.
Some cities, like Toulouse and Lourdes, made changes to their Bastille Day celebrations on Thursday to limit the risk of an accidental fire, while Nimes canceled traditional fireworks altogether.
The prefect of the Paris region, meanwhile, lowered the speed limit on motorways and dual carriageways in a bid to limit air pollution.
Heat waves have become more frequent due to climate change, scientists say.
The previous such phenomenon that afflicted France, Portugal and Spain occurred in mid-June.
– “Expect it to get worse” –
“We expect it to get worse,” World Meteorological Organization spokeswoman Clare Nullis said on Tuesday.
“This heat accompanies drought,” she said.
It was also “a very bad season for the glaciers,” she said.
Last week, an avalanche triggered by the collapse of the largest glacier in the Italian Alps – due to unseasonably warm temperatures – killed 11 people.
High temperatures are expected to spread to other parts of western and central Europe in the coming days.
Britain issued a “yellow” alert – the second highest of three levels – indicating the extreme heat will have a “high impact” on daily life and people. Temperatures of 35C are forecast in the south-east of the country in the coming days.
A UK climate official said there was a rising chance of a new UK record, beating the UK’s highest recorded temperature on July 25, 2019, which reached 38.7C at Cambridge Botanic Garden in east England.
In Spain, maximum temperatures of up to 44C are expected in the coming days in the Guadalquivir Valley in Seville in the south.
Spain’s Health Ministry said people should drink plenty of fluids, wear light clothing and stay in the shade or in air-conditioned rooms to avoid compromising their “vital functions”.
– ‘A bit oppressive’ –
People who work outdoors for a living have struggled.
“The temperature is a bit oppressive,” said Miguel Angel Nunez, a 54-year-old bricklayer at a construction site in central Madrid.
Meteorological agency Aemet said parts of the country were “suffocating”, particularly Andalusia in the south, Extremadura in the south-west and Galicia in the north-west.
These areas have been placed on high alert, meaning residents have been urged to exercise caution and keep a close eye on the weather forecast. Travel was discouraged “unless absolutely necessary”.
Between January 1 and July 3, more than 70,300 hectares of forest went up in smoke in Spain, the government said – almost double the average for the past decade.
Authorities in Portugal said one person died in wildfires after a body was found in a burned area in the northern Aveiro region.
With temperatures set to soar to over 40C, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa has urged “maximum caution”.
“We have seen situations like this in the past and will certainly see them in the future,” he said.
The whole country is in an “alert situation” because of forest fires that have been raging for days and are expected to last until at least Friday.
The situation brings back memories of devastating forest fires in 2017 that killed over 100 people in Portugal.
Officials in the town of Sintra near Lisbon closed a number of tourist attractions including palaces and monuments in a green mountain range popular with visitors as a precaution.
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