IN PICS| 'We're heartbroken, we're exhausted': France battles 'Monster wildfire'
It's a monster
Gregory Allione from the French firefighters body FNSPF told RTL radio, "It's an ogre, it's a monster."
Smoke everywhere
This summer, as successive heatwaves baked the continent, wildfires erupted all over Europe, refocusing attention on the hazards that climate change poses to industry and people. Before leaving Belin-Beliet, the centre of the Gironde region, Valentine Dupy took pictures of her home with her phone "just in case something happens. It was like an apocalypse. Smoke everywhere ... and planes throwing orange powder onto the fire."
Ghost town
Her community, which had become a ghost town after police had ordered inhabitants to leave as the flames approached, was believed to have been saved by firefighters. However, the fire spread outside, leaving burnt tractors and destroyed homes in its wake.
Support on the way
361 firefighters, trucks, and waterbombing planes were on their way from throughout Europe to support the 1,100 French firefighters already on the ground.
In phases
"We are still in the phase of (trying to) confine the fire, direct it where we want it, where there is less vegetation, where our vehicles can best position themselves ... so we can eventually fix it, control it and extinguish it," said Matthieu Jomain, a spokesperson for the Gironde firefighters.
Gone up in flames
According to data from the European Forest Fire Information System, there have been fires in France this year that have burned more than 60,000 hectares (230 square miles), which is six times the full-year average from 2006 to 2021. According to French authorities, the Gironde region will have high temperatures through Saturday, with Thursday's high expected to be 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).
Explosive cocktail
Firefighters issued an "explosive cocktail" of weather conditions warning, saying that the wind and tinder-box conditions will likely fuel the fires. Large wildfires that ravaged more than 20,000 hectares of woodland and temporarily evicted over 40,000 people from their homes struck the Gironde in July.
We're heartbroken, we're exhausted
Mayor of Hostens Jean-Louis Dartiailh called the recent weeks a catastrophe. "The area is totally disfigured. We're heartbroken, we're exhausted," he told Radio Classique. "(This fire) is the final straw."
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