Europe live: Officials warn that wildfires could still be burning in November | World news

Spain meteo service warns of another ‘long’ heatwave from Wednesday

Spanish state meteorological agency Aemet has just issued a new warning, saying the heatwave expected to start on Wednesday will be “long” and “last, at least, until Sunday,” with “the risk of fire rising to extreme levels, hindering firefighting efforts.”

Aemet’s note warns of “a significant of even extraordinary level of danger” for those involved in outdoor activities and vulnerable groups, including elderly people and people with cardiovascular conditions.

Temperatures are expected to get close to or even surpass 40C in several parts of the country.

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Firefighters battling devastating fires in France have had to contend with a new threat: immense fire clouds that create their own wind and even lightning that can spark fresh blazes.

Known as “fire clouds” or pyrocumulonimbus clouds, these ominous-looking thunderstorms are created by extreme wildfires and can exacerbate already extremely dangerous conditions.

This phenomenon, which is new to France, is yet another consequence of human-caused climate change, according to French researcher Jean-Baptiste Filippi, who studies wildfires.

He said:

double quotation markIt is a common phenomenon in Portugal, California and Australia, where firefighters are more used to them. In Portugal, they had been rare until the deadly 2017 fires in Pedrogao Grande changed things.

In France, pyrocumulonimbus clouds are quite new. There were some in Landiras south of Bordeaux in 2022, but not for long.

Therefore, we need to learn how to manage fires that creates their own wind – this is something relatively new.

ShareGironde fire ‘not over’ and ‘unlike anything we have ever seen in France,’ regional prefect says

The wildfire in Gironde is “unlike any we have ever seen in France” as it “follows its own logic rather than any known pattern,” the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region’s prefect Sophie Brocas warned.

Updating the media on the fight against the blaze, she said the constantly evolving nature of the fire forced firefighters to “constantly adapt” to the circumstances.

She warned that the fire is “not over,” and remains “extremely dangerous.”

“Our absolute priority is saving lives,” she said.

ShareSpain meteo service warns of another ‘long’ heatwave from Wednesday

Spanish state meteorological agency Aemet has just issued a new warning, saying the heatwave expected to start on Wednesday will be “long” and “last, at least, until Sunday,” with “the risk of fire rising to extreme levels, hindering firefighting efforts.”

Aemet’s note warns of “a significant of even extraordinary level of danger” for those involved in outdoor activities and vulnerable groups, including elderly people and people with cardiovascular conditions.

Temperatures are expected to get close to or even surpass 40C in several parts of the country.

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As part of their efforts to stop the spread of blaze, French firefighters are sometimes force to cut some trees down to create a natural firebreak and deprive the fire of further fuel – as we can see in these pictures from Gironde.

Opening of a firebreak at Claouey, at the entrance to the Cap-Ferret peninsula, in Gironde, France. Photograph: Clement Viala/infobassin.com/ABACA/ShutterstockAn excavator tears out trees to construct a firebreak in a forest near Cestas, some 17km from Bordeaux, France. Photograph: Romain Perrocheau/AFP/Getty ImagesShareBordeaux region wildfires hit local economy, minister warns

The wildfires around Bordeaux in southwestern France have delivered a shock to the regional economy, finance minister Roland Lescure said.

The region is one of the centres of French wine production and a major centre for tourism, Reuters noted.

“It’s like a clap of thunder for an area which ​could have done without this,” Lescure told reporters.

ShareEU worries record-breaking wildfires could still be burning in early NovemberJennifer Rankin

in Brussels

EU officials have warned that wildfires could still be burning as late as early November in what threatens to be a record-breaking year for the area of land consumed by flames.

A firefighting plane makes a drop during a wildfire in Betxi, Spain. Photograph: Eva Manez/Reuters

A European Commission official said the wildfire season had begun in April and could last until early November. The European commissioner for crisis response Hadja Lahbib has said it is likely the damage from wildfires will exceed previous records.

The EU executive has coordinated the dispatch of seven planes and four helicopters to France, as well as six planes and three forest firefighting teams to Spain, after both countries triggered the bloc’s emergency assistance mechanism.

EU officials have also been dispatched to the Bordeaux region to assist local authorities, who are grappling with the mega fire in the Gironde region that has burned an area four times the size of Paris.

Map of fires in France

Officials stressed the unprecedented nature of the fires, which spread rapidly over large areas.

A recent fire in southern Spain that killed 13 people tore threw land at speeds of six km an hour, whereas fire fighters on the ground can respond to fires moving at 300m an hour.

ShareEU ups the number of firefighting planes deployed to France to 11, commissioner says

The European Union is ramping up the number of firefighting planes and helicopters sent to help tackle blazes raging in southwest France, 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.

ShareMacron to visit southwestern region of France ravaged by wildfires later on Monday

Looks like president Emmanuel Macron will on Monday go to an area ravaged by a forest fire in southwest France to show support to firefighters and local officials.

That’s what the Élysée Palace says, AFP is reporting.

I will keep an eye on this for you.

ShareWildfires in Spain and France ‘some of the most extreme we have seen in Europe,’ expert saysDamian Carrington

Environment editor

Dr Theodore Keeping, an expert on the analysis of extreme weather and wildfires at Imperial College London, offered this take on the wildfires in Europe:

“These fires in Spain and France are some of the most extreme we have seen in Europe, in their size, in rapidity of spread, and in the pyrocumulonimbus storms they have created.

Whilst wildfires are affected by people, and need vegetation, the hot and dry summer weather we have seen is the key driver of this extreme behaviour. Consecutive windy, and very hot days mean that a fire will continue to grow faster and larger until it runs out of vegetation, and when this intensity increases to a very high level, we see the formation of pyrocumulonimbus systems which often strengthen and continue the winds driving the fire.

Climate change is causing these conditions to become much more likely and more intense, which is why we are seeing much more extreme wildfires across Europe.

“The impacts of these fires go beyond evacuations and destroyed property. From the science, we would expect major economic impacts due to the disruption, and wildfire smoke from major events is deadly. Estimates are for well over 100,000 excess deaths globally due to smoke exposure from wildfires.”

Spain’s Military Emergencies Unit (UME)personnel fighting a wildfire near Navas del Rey, 55 kilometers southwest of Madrid. Photograph: UME/AFP/Getty ImagesShareTell us: have you been affected by wildfires in Europe?

Wildfires are once again affecting communities in France and Spain, with people forced to evacuate their homes, travel disrupted and smoke affecting air quality in many areas.

Inhabitants of the La Vall d’Uixo’s region who have been forced to evacuate their homes rest at the pavilion of Nules, Castellón, Spain. Photograph: Manuel Bruque/EPA

We would like to hear from people who have been affected. Have you had to evacuate your home? How are you coping? Are you living with smoke, poor air quality or the threat of evacuation?

Let us know.

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