By Stephane Mahe
LEGE-CAP FERRET, France, July 24 (Reuters) – French authorities ordered on Friday the total evacuation of the Cap Ferret peninsula, a tourism hotspot on the Atlantic Coast, sending boats to remove people from an area threatened by a major wildfire.
The order for a total evacuation of the area, which is home to many valuable properties and is currently full of tourists enjoying their summer vacations in camp sites and rental homes, underlined the severity of the fire.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he had requested help from the European Union as the country’s battle against wildfires intensifies.
“France has requested the activation of the European Union’s civil protection mechanism. We will soon be able to count on reinforcements from two Croatian Canadair aircraft, two Portuguese Air Tractor planes, as well as two heavy Black Hawk helicopters from the Czech Republic and Slovakia,” wrote Macron on X on Friday.
Sophie Brocas, the prefect for the Nouvelle Aquitaine region, said on Friday that evacuees from the Cap Ferret peninsula could leave from piers in four villages in the area between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. local time (0500 GMT and 0800 GMT).
All those still present in those villages must leave either on the boats or by the only road linking the area with the mainland, she added.
The fire has already devastated 8,700 hectares and is still raging.
FRANCE HARD HIT BY THIS SUMMER’S HEATWAVES
Across Europe, three heatwaves in succession this season have intensified drought, strained water supplies and left vegetation tinder-dry, helping wildfires scorch more land already this year than the annual average of the past two decades. The heat has also been blamed for thousands of deaths.
France has been particularly hard hit, with the intense heat pressuring its capacity to handle the situation.
“Our security forces are engaged in a genuine battle against the wildfires,” Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on Thursday evening. “The nation stands with you.”
The pressure on fire departments in southwestern France has been increased by another wildfire that began on Thursday afternoon near Biscarosse, just 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Cap Ferret.
That fire, which is still not under control, has devastated 2,500 hectares, the prefect for the Landes area, Gilles Clavreul, said in a statement.
“Winds are blowing, and the situation remains highly dynamic and unfavourable,” he said.
More than 23,000 people were evacuated from the Biscarosse district, mainly in campsites and homes and a children’s summer camp and a residential care home for the elderly were also evacuated.
He asked farmers to contribute with water tanks.
(Reporting by Camille Raynaud and Inti LandauroEditing by Gareth Jones)
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