{"id":819544,"date":"2026-07-23T22:07:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T22:07:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/819544\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T22:07:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T22:07:16","slug":"france-fires-more-than-20000-people-evacuated-from-bay-of-arcachon-as-heatwaves-sweep-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/819544\/","title":{"rendered":"France fires: More than 20,000 people evacuated from Bay of Arcachon as heatwaves sweep Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"

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London: More than 20,000 people are fleeing a wildfire in southern France after flames spread rapidly through a bayside area busy with families on school holidays, in the latest emergency of a European summer marked by intense heat and dry conditions.<\/p>\n

French authorities said more than 700 firefighters were trying to contain the blaze around the Bay of Arcachon, west of Bordeaux, as they asked families at beachside campsites to leave overnight to avoid being trapped by the flames.<\/p>\n

\"PeoplePeople on the beach in Biscarrosse, southwestern France as a cloud of smoke rises from a fire raging in the northern part of the Arcachon Basin.AFP\"AA water bomber fighting wildfires in L\u00e8ge-Cap-Ferret in western France on Thursday.AP Photo\/Caroline Blumberg<\/p>\n

Wildfires have also spread in Spain and Italy after the heatwaves of the northern summer<\/a>, while a fire also spread in a district south of Paris, blamed on arsonists who lit the flames in the Fontainebleau forest near the capital.<\/p>\n

The emergencies highlight the ongoing threat from the intense heat when the French public health agency has estimated an \u201cexcess mortality\u201d of 5764 deaths between June 17 and July 2, when temperatures soared above 30 degrees.<\/p>\n

The death toll remains below the statistics reported during a similar heatwave in 2003, although the estimate is yet to reflect the impact over the full summer.<\/p>\n

\"WildfiresWildfires broke out in several parts of the Italian island of Sicily this week.Anadolu via Getty Images<\/p>\n

French authorities have ordered the evacuation of about 12,000 people from the area around the Bay of Arcachon, while another 8800 are being moved as a precaution.<\/p>\n

\u201cOvernight, the fire spread more quickly than we had imagined,\u201d said Philippe de Gonneville, the mayor of L\u00e8ge-Cap Ferret.<\/p>\n

French President Emmanuel Macron said two firefighters lost their lives while responding to a fire in M\u00e9rignac, also in the Gironde region.<\/p>\n

\u201cI extend to their families, to their loved ones, and to the firefighters of France the condolences, the gratitude, and the support of the nation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"SmokeSmoke rises in the L\u00e8ge-Cap-Ferret region.AP Photo\/Caroline Blumberg\"AA fire burns in San Martin de Valdeiglesias, Spain, on Thursday.Europa Press via Getty Images<\/p>\n

L\u00e8ge is the only one of the peninsula\u2019s 11 villages that is currently threatened by the fire, but Gonneville said authorities had evacuated 5200 people overnight. He said access \u200bwas completely closed, and contingency plans were in place to evacuate the entire peninsula by both road and sea if necessary.<\/p>\n

The fire later reached the edge of L\u00e8ge, forcing the evacuation of several campgrounds and neighbourhoods close to the forest.<\/p>\n

In \u200bneighbouring Spain, authorities were still working to put out fires which have raged for several days, while in Italy, a 59-year-old firefighter died after falling ill while battling \u2060a large wildfire near San Cataldo in Sicily.<\/p>\n

\"FirefightersFirefighters use a helicopter to combat wildfires in Rome on Tuesday.Francesco Benvenuti\/LaPresse via<\/p>\n

Train traffic on Spain\u2019s Madrid-Barcelona high-speed rail line resumed on Thursday after a wildfire near the tracks prompted the suspension of services between Mejorada del Campo and Alcal\u00e1 \u200cde Henares, east \u2060of Madrid.<\/p>\n

Europe is bearing the brunt of \u2060a rapidly warming climate, with temperatures rising more than twice as fast as the global average.<\/p>\n

In Italy, arsonists were reported to have tied rags to the tails of cats<\/a> and set them alight, causing wildfires.<\/p>\n

Investigators also found candles and delayed ignition devices in the aftermath of the fire, according to The Telegraph. The blaze spread through the Pollino national park in Calabria in southern Italy this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese animals were released into the fields, running around and spreading the fire,\u201d said Domenico Costarella, of Calabria\u2019s civil protection agency.<\/p>\n

The Reuters Climate Monitor, an interactive tool tracking weather patterns, showed the average high across Western Europe is forecast to be 26.5 degrees on Thursday, which is 2.9 degrees above the normal high for July 23 over the period from 1961 to 1990.<\/p>\n

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\"DavidDavid Crowe<\/a> is Europe correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":819545,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,75,128],"class_list":["post-819544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}