France Allows About 198,000 Home as Gironde Fire Is Held; New Evacuations in the Var and Greece
The Facts
- Firefighters in southwestern France kept a large wildfire inside its perimeter on Saturday, allowing about 198,000 people in the Gironde region to return home after what may have been France's largest peacetime evacuation.
- A second French fire, in the Mediterranean Var department, spread across 10 square kilometres (4 square miles) in six hours on Friday — described by the prefecture as 'faster than a horse at full gallop' — then stopped expanding overnight but remained active on Saturday, with 2,500 people still unable to return home.
- In Greece, gale-force winds drove flames through a coastal resort area west of Athens, hampering firefighting aircraft and prompting fresh evacuation orders; the fire began Friday near the village of Agios Vasileios and threatened Porto Germeno on the Gulf of Corinth.
- Hundreds of people were evacuated by sea from the Greek coastal area; The Associated Press reported about 300 people were taken out by boat, while Greek local media cited by LBC put the number of stranded people, mostly tourists, at around 500.
- Elsewhere in western Europe, major fires in Spain were no longer advancing and Portugal's main blaze was under control, though officials said the wider emergency was not over.
- At the height of the emergency, fires in France and Spain alone drove about 330,000 people from homes and holiday sites during the summer season, stretching firefighters, aircraft and emergency services across simultaneous crises.
- The simultaneous mass returns in Gironde and renewed displacement in the Var and Greece illustrated how quickly firefighting gains can be reversed, with hot spots and heat warnings keeping some residents displaced.
- Europe is the world's fastest-warming continent, heating at more than twice the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union's Copernicus climate service.
Context
Why are Greek authorities treating this fire as especially dangerous?
The blaze is burning through a seaside community west of Athens under gale-force winds that grounded or hindered water-dropping aircraft Al Jazeera Online,TribLIVE. Reporting also notes the precedent of the 2018 wildfire at Mati, a seaside community near Athens, which killed 104 people and is described as Europe's deadliest wildfire this century Los Angeles Times,Breaking News.ie,CBS News.
Is the French emergency over?
No. French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the Gironde blaze 'is now under control with vigilance points in a few sectors,' but hot spots and heat warnings persist and thousands remain displaced Los Angeles Times,CBS News. The Var fire was still active on Saturday and 2,500 people had not been allowed home Irish Examiner,Santa Rosa Press De….
How large was the French evacuation compared with past events?
Sources describe the Gironde operation as what may have been France's largest peacetime evacuation, with about 198,000 people ordered out and later permitted to return Globe and Mail,LBC,India Today. Combined with Spain, the fires displaced roughly a third of a million people at their peak Washington Times,India Today.
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
- Where Left and Right agree
- Gains reverse within hours, the services carrying simultaneous crises are stretched thin, and a continent warming at twice the global rate makes that strain the baseline, not the exception.
- Where Left and Right split
- The warming that keeps generating these fires, or the crews, aircraft and evacuation plans that decide how much each one costs.
How left and right read it
About 330,000 people driven from homes and holiday sites by the fires in France and Spain alone, with firefighters, aircraft and emergency services stretched across simultaneous crises. Gironde's 198,000 went home; 2,500 in the Var could not, and hundreds off the Greek coast left by boat. Gains reverse fast. Fund and staff the services carrying this — and treat the warming behind it as the emergency it is.
“Europe is Earth's fastest-warming continent, heating at more than twice the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union's Copernicus climate service.” — CBS News
Firefighters in southwestern France held a large fire inside its perimeter Saturday and sent about 198,000 Gironde residents home. In the Var, flames crossed 10 square kilometres in six hours; off the Greek coast, gale-force winds hampered firefighting aircraft and hundreds left by boat. Capacity is the variable we control. A continent heating faster than the rest of the world is an argument for hard resilience — crews, aircraft, workable evacuation — not for treating pledges as protection.
“Europe is Earth's fastest-warming continent, heating at more than twice the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union's Copernicus climate service. Rising temperatures and prolonged drought dry vegetation, allowing fires to spread faster and burn more intensely.” — Washington Times
The receipts — all 31 sources
Wire services (10)
Independent coverage (21)
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