Fires in Europe — latest developments
PARIS, F rance (AFP) — Here are the main developments related to the wildfires raging in Spain and France on Monday:
New Spain heatwave
Meteorological agency AEMET officially declared a new heatwave would begin on Tuesday, lasting until the end of the week.
It earlier said temperatures would soar and humidity levels drop across Spain, causing the fire risk to “surge to very high or extreme levels across almost the entire country”.
“This situation will persist, or may even worsen, in the following days,” it added.
Temperatures are also predicted to rise again in France, which is battling two major fires on its Atlantic coast.
Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told reporters that Monday and Tuesday “are absolutely decisive days” to control the fires because of the forecast.
PM’s appeal
Reacting to the forecast, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said: “I ask for understanding and call on all citizens in all the country to exercise extreme caution and take every possible precaution.”
“We face difficult hours, complex hours” ahead, he warned.
Macron to visit southwest
French President Emmanuel Macron was to head to southwest France on Monday to show support for firefighters and local officials in the fire-ravaged region.
EU sends more aircraft
The European Union said it would deploy additional aircraft to Spain to help combat the fires, the bloc’s crisis management chief told AFP.
“We currently have nine aerial assets deployed on site, and tomorrow we will have 11, drawn from our European strategic reserve,” EU commissioner Hadja Lahbib said.
Madrid fires slow, France stable
The major wildfires west of Madrid “slowed their advance” during the night although they remain a threat, the regional government said on Monday.
“The situation has improved slightly, but the fire is still active,” the Madrid regional government said in a statement, urging residents to remain “extremely cautious”.
French authorities said meanwhile that the major fire in the southwest Gironde region was stable overnight. Macron was to chair a crisis cabinet meeting Monday to discuss the wildfires, his office said.
Spain plans returns
Spanish authorities said they planned to start allowing some people evacuated from wildfires near Madrid to return on Monday.
Francisco Martin Aguirre, a government delegate for the Madrid region, said authorities planned to reopen a campsite where 4,500 people had been evacuated and also allow elderly residents back home in another area.
Holiday camps banned
Authorities in France’s Gironde region said Monday they were banning holiday camps, including Scouts’ trips with overnight stays and holiday camps for people with disabilities.
115,000 hectares burned
Some 115,000 hectares (284,000 acres) have burned in wildfires in France since the start of the year, “far more than anything we have seen in the past”, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said Sunday.
France was battling 30 to 40 wildfires daily, Nunez told France 2 television.
He said earlier that 2,500 firefighters, including a Swiss firefighting team, 1,500 military personnel and around 1,200 police have been deployed to Gironde to battle the major inferno.