The Spanish and French authorities have asked the European Union for help as wildfires fueled by extreme heat force tens of thousands of people to flee their homes in both countries.
The Spanish government on Friday declared a state of emergency over the situation for the first time, while French officials ordered the evacuation of the Cap Ferret peninsula, a tourism hotspot on the Atlantic Coast.
According to Reuters, two fires have merged just outside Spain’s capital city of Madrid, and government officials stated a third fire was on the brink of joining the blazes.
“This is the worst wildfire in our region’s history. It’s the perfect storm of very high temperatures and ceaseless winds that aren’t letting up,” Madrid’s regional leader Isabel Diaz Ayuso said after telling reporters the fires had merged.
Enrique Martin, one of the victims of the evacuation order, moved to a shelter in Cebreros, west of Madrid, and stated, “I had to run from my house. There was a ball of fire. If I’d taken five more minutes, it would have wiped us out.”
As the cloud became dark in southwest France, authorities dispatched boats to help people evacuate the affected areas, with more than 63,000 individuals, mostly tourists, believed to have been relocated.
“From our home, we had a view of the fires … We could see the clouds becoming darker and darker. I was able to find somewhere to take shelter with my pets, but … it’s quite a shock,” Yoan Urien, who left his home following police’s orders, told Reuters.
Meanwhile, both countries have turned to the EU for urgent assistance as the wildfires strained firefighting and other emergency services.
Evacuation orders were also issued for over 19,000 people in towns in the mountains west of Madrid, where more than 2,000 personnel and 10 aircraft were reportedly working hard to suppress the blazes.
