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Southern Europe burns as 2 firefighters die and France battles blaze 4 times the size of Paris
AP News • • world
Key Points:
- A massive wildfire in southwest France's Gironde region, four times the size of Paris, threatens to surge again amid forecasted 40°C temperatures and strong winds, despite a brief calm night.
- The fire, believed to have been sparked by routine brush-clearing near a high-voltage line, has forced the evacuation of up to 220,000 people, with 4,000 more ordered out along the Atlantic coast as the situation remains precarious.
- Two firefighters died battling a wildfire in Crete, Greece, highlighting the broader wildfire emergency across southern Europe driven by heat, drought, and strong winds.
- Tens of thousands of evacuees have begun returning home in Spain after firefighting progress, though some areas remain under evacuation orders as the region braces for another heat wave.
- Europe is experiencing record heat and dryness, with over 1,160 square kilometers burned in France this year, exacerbated by climate change making the continent the fastest-warming globally.
