France and Spain brace for more extreme heat as wildfires rage

{"text":[[{"start":12.52,"text":"France and Spain are braced for even higher temperatures that could worsen wildfires that have already forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people over the past week."}],[{"start":23.84,"text":"Fires in south-west France and central Spain remained largely stable overnight into Monday as firefighters’ efforts to stop the blazes from advancing towards Bordeaux and Madrid were helped by light rainfall."}],[{"start":36.84,"text":"But Jérôme Boulanger, spokesperson for France’s civil security agency, warned that the French fires were “far from being under control”."}],[{"start":44.84,"text":"“Weather conditions over the next few days will be key,” he said, referring to forecasts for a heatwave that could push temperatures above 40C."}],[{"start":54.64,"text":"Spain issued similar warnings. Although firefighters were working to “stabilise” the fires west of Madrid, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, Spain’s interior minister, said forecasts of higher temperatures, stronger winds and reduced humidity from Wednesday onwards were ominous."}],[{"start":71.44,"text":"“The weather forecasts are really negative from the standpoint of being able to take action against the fire,” he said."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":78.84,"text":"Shortly after he spoke, another municipality some 80km from Madrid was evacuated, taking the total number of evacuees in the region to more than 63,000."}],[{"start":89.56,"text":"In France’s Gironde region, some 220,000 people have been ordered to move to safer ground since the fires started on Wednesday, though evacuations were paused overnight. Thousands are being housed in emergency shelters."}],[{"start":103.72,"text":"After holding a crisis meeting in Paris on Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron visited officials leading the firefighting effort at a command centre in Gironde. He praised crews who stopped the fire’s progression but cautioned that the battle was not over. “The weeks ahead will be hard,” Macron said."}],[{"start":123.06,"text":"The officials told the president that they needed to find ways to fight the fire from the air overnight — as is done in the US and Canada — but France does not currently have the right aircraft for this task. Options to rent or borrow helicopters able to fly such missions were now being explored, they added."}],[{"start":141.72,"text":"In Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez linked the blazes directly to climate change as he visited an area affected by wildfires in the south-east."}],[{"start":150.2,"text":"“We need to be more vigilant and better prepared every year for a climate emergency that is, unfortunately, surpassing every level that scientists have been systematically warning us about for many years,” he said."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":163.86,"text":"The French wildfires broke out last Wednesday near Saumos, a town in the Gironde region where the wine city of Bordeaux is located. They have since burned through 42,000 hectares of forest, an area four times the size of Paris."}],[{"start":179.28,"text":"Authorities have called the fire “unprecedented” in intensity and scope for France, pointing to a period of several hours overnight into Sunday when the blaze took on characteristics similar to large-scale blazes seen in the US and Canada."}],[{"start":193.52,"text":"Those phenomena, in which fires generate their own lightning and winds, remain rare in Europe, so firefighters are not as familiar with combating them."}],[{"start":202.72,"text":"Since Saturday, firefighters have sought to stop the blazes from advancing from their origin near the Atlantic coast to Bordeaux, a city of about 260,000 residents."}],[{"start":213.4,"text":"But changing winds and difficult conditions have complicated their efforts. The area is heavily wooded with pine forests and the Atlantic coast is crowded with tourists on their summer holidays."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":224.28,"text":"French finance minister Roland Lescure said some 13,000 businesses had been affected in the evacuated areas, promising “a broad mobilisation” of resources to help companies and workers. The fires were “an economic thunderbolt that is hitting a region that did not need it”, he said."}],[{"start":242.44,"text":"Insurers and risk modellers said it was too soon to estimate the size of insured losses or economic damage. However, Balz Grollimund, Swiss Re’s head of catastrophe perils, said the fires in Gironde were expected to cost at least hundreds of millions of euros."}],[{"start":258.7,"text":"Gironde is an economic hub for the defence and aerospace industries, as well as being home to military bases involved in France’s nuclear weapons programme."}],[{"start":268,"text":"Rocket maker ArianeGroup has had to shut three production sites in evacuated zones, and aerospace supplier Safran has done the same at its four sites. Staff are working from home until it is safe to return. Fighter jet maker Dassault Aviation said it had moved some “sensitive equipment” from two of its factories on the military’s request."}],[{"start":288.2,"text":"Following requests for support, the EU has co-ordinated the dispatch of six planes to Spain and five planes as well as two helicopters to France from other European countries. The EU is also mapping the development of the wildfires using Copernicus satellites, which can provide close to real-time fire detection."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":307.48,"text":"Asked why more of the EU’s reserve of 22 planes and five helicopters had not been dispatched, an official said: “They need to be adapted for [local] scenarios. It’s not always a solution to send all the available assets.”"}],[{"start":320.24,"text":"Fire conditions have been worsened this year by three successive heatwaves that dried out vegetation, making it easier for blazes to start and spread. Scientists say these conditions have been worsened by climate change."}],[{"start":333.12,"text":"The EU is monitoring the potential for fires in Portugal, Greece, Germany and other countries as wildfire season may stretch to as late as November. Officials said the record of 1mn hectares burnt in wildfires in 2025 could be surpassed this year."}],[{"start":349.92,"text":"Additional reporting by Sarah White in Paris, Carmen Muela in Madrid and Lee Harris in London. Cartography and data visualisation by Steven Bernard and Jana Tauschinski"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":361.4,"text":"Where climate change meets business, markets and politics. Explore the FT’s coverage here."}],[{"start":366.52,"text":"Are you curious about the FT’s environmental sustainability commitments? Find out more about our science-based targets here"}],[{"start":377.6,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1785197774_1353.mp3"}