{"id":527701,"date":"2026-07-06T10:33:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T10:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/527701\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T10:33:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T10:33:11","slug":"massive-wildfires-tear-through-southern-europe-forcing-thousands-to-flee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/527701\/","title":{"rendered":"Massive wildfires tear through southern Europe, forcing thousands to flee"},"content":{"rendered":"

ILLE-SUR-T\u00caT, France \u2014 Wildfires raged across southern Europe on Monday, forcing thousands of people to evacuate their homes and prompting officials to ban spectators from a stage of the storied Tour de France cycling race.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of firefighters are battling blazes that have devastated more than 19,000 hectares (42,000 acres) of land \u2014 an area more than twice the size of Manhattan \u2014 across Portugal, Spain, France and Greece.<\/p>\n

And temperatures are on the rise again, predicted to reach 40\u00b0C in parts of a region still suffering the aftermath of a recent record-breaking heatwave.<\/p>\n

In southwestern France near the city of Perpignan, 700 firefighters backed by special aircraft battled to control a \u201cgigantic\u201d blaze spreading in a hard-to-reach remote area, with more than 10,000 local residents evacuated.<\/p>\n

Fanned by wind, intense heat and exceptionally dry air, the fire has nearly tripled in size since early Sunday, devouring 4,600 hectares and leaving a firefighter and a resident injured, local authorities said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe fire came within 300 meters of the houses. We were taken aback by how fast it spread; it was staggering \u2014 bordering on panic,\u201d said Patrice, a 53-year-old resident of the village of Trevillach, who did not wish to give his surname.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tA wildfire burning in the Aspres region seen from Millas, in the Pyrenees-Orientales department, southern France on July 5, 2026. (Jc Milhet \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started seeing smoke around 10:30 pm, then it kept coming closer and closer. Someone from the town hall knocked on our door around 1 a.m. to tell us to leave,\u201d said Charlotte Pignol, 30, who was among the first to be evacuated from her home early on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The blazes come shortly after a heatwave in June, one of Europe\u2019s worst, during which thousands of excess deaths were registered and which would have been \u201cvirtually impossible\u201d without climate change, the World Weather Attribution group of scientists said.<\/p>\n

With the mercury set to rise again in the coming days, authorities expressed alarm that the annual summer wildfire season had started a month early.<\/p>\n

\u201cClimate change is here, we are living the consequences, and it is only the start of July,\u201d said French fire service Colonel Eric Belgioino as he appealed to people near the Pyrenees inferno to take precautions to avoid starting fires.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe season is going to be long for the soldiers fighting fires. You have to help us,\u201d he pleaded.<\/p>\n

Tour de France<\/p>\n

In France, officials announced that Monday\u2019s third stage of the\u00a0Tour de France cycling race through the Pyrenees would take place without spectators who normally line the routes of the storied competition.<\/p>\n

The stage, which on Monday will see cyclists ride from Spain into France, \u201cwill be limited to the passage of the riders only and the vehicles essential to organizing the race\u201d on French territory, regional prefect Pierre Regnault de la Mothe told reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe public is asked not to go near the route or to the finish area,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn other words, and I regret having to say this, it will be, in France at least, a stage of the Tour de France without spectators.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tA helicopter drops water over a wildfire on the outskirts of the northern city of Thessaloniki, Greece, July 5, 2026. (AP Photo\/Giannis Papanikos)<\/p>\n

Poisonous cloud<\/p>\n

In Greece, flames set off by a forest fire tore through two factories in Thessaloniki in the north of the country over the weekend, forcing authorities to evacuate the surrounding area and to warn households to keep their windows closed.<\/p>\n

In Spain, a fire near the northeastern Costa Brava coast burned more than 2,200 hectares in two days, and firefighters said their efforts would be \u201ccomplicated\u201d by rising temperatures and the many \u201csmoking hotspots\u201d within the fire\u2019s perimeter.<\/p>\n

In Portugal, emergency services said they had controlled \u201c80 percent\u201d of a wildfire that has devastated some 13,000 hectares of forest and scrub land in the north of the country.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, major fires also destroyed hundreds of hectares of forest, vineyards and scrub land on the Croatian island of Hvar and at Tale in Albania, authorities said.<\/p>\n

Regions across Portugal, Spain, and southern France have stepped up heat alerts for the coming days.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the latest heatwave was expected to move north, with forecasters saying it could last until next weekend.<\/p>\n


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