Record Wildfires Burn Nearly 100,000 Hectares in France, 200,000 Evacuated

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PARIS — France is deploying military planes and getting help from other EU countries in the fight against the worst wave of wildfires in the country’s recent history.

At the same time, Spain is also faced with massive wildfires in the area of the country close to Madrid.

“It is an historic record,” Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told reporters on Saturday, announcing that almost 98,000 hectares have burned since the beginning of the year.

Nearly 200,000 people have been evacuated because of the fires in southwestern France out of which more than 167,000 are in Gironde, the department of Bordeaux, and around 30,000 in the nearby Landes department.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday announced that he requested the activation of an EU emergency mechanism, which has prompted other EU countries including Portugal, Croatia, Slovakia and Sweden to send airplanes and helicopters to help France.

“Europe stands with France and Spain against the devastating wildfires that are hitting them,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote in a social media post on Saturday, stressing that France is already benefitting from five planes and two helicopters provided by other EU countries while four planes will arrive in Spain on Saturday.

France’s Nuñez confirmed that Saturday afternoon an Airbus A400 military plane will start throwing a fire retardant product at the wildfires. That is on the top of Canadair and other French and European aircraft.

The wildfires have been the subject of political controversy in France in recent days, with both the hard-left France Unbowed and the far-right National Rally accusing Macron of underinvesting.

Spain has declared the state of emergency in the Madrid and Ávila regions.

“Our priority is to save lives, protect communities, and fight the fires,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Saturday. Around 80,000 people have been evacuated or are confined because of the wildfires, Spanish media report .