Fires multiply in southern Europe, crushed by a heat wave

Since Tuesday July 12, a fire has ravaged the forest of La-Teste-de-Buch, in Gironde in the south-west of France.

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From Portugal to Greece, via France, Spain and Morocco, fires are raging on Friday July 15 in southern Europe, struck down by a suffocating heat wave, which for the second consecutive day reached the peak of 45 degrees in the Iberian Peninsula.

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In

, in the south-west of France, the fires continue to gain ground in La Teste-de-Buch, near Arcachon, and in Landiras.

In all, nearly 7,000 hectares of forest burned and 10,000 people were evacuated.

"

", declared the prefect Fabienne Buccio, asking holidaymakers not to approach the sector of the Dune du Pilat, backed by the forest and closed to the sun .

audience. 

Fire still active in southwestern France, confined near Avignon

The thousand firefighters mobilized are struggling to contain the fire, the two hearths of which are still active.

The high temperatures of the next few days should not make things easier.

The 4,000 inhabitants of the town of Cazaux spent the night with relatives or in a municipal hall, enveloped in a large plume of smoke and ashes in suspension.

On the ground, the emergency services are trying to protect the houses.

Two were destroyed.

Another fire broke out on Thursday afternoon, this time south of Avignon, near Tarascon.

But he is under control this morning.

Three hundred hectares, mainly of pines, burned.

A thousand firefighters remained hard at work on Friday morning. 

Very hot weather is still expected this Friday in France.

The temperatures will be even higher than the day before, with peaks at 40 degrees, which will of course complicate the work of the firefighters.

Eleven departments, including Gironde and Vaucluse, have been placed on orange “

” vigilance by Météo-France.

►Also read: In the United States, the giant sequoias of Yosemite park threatened by a fire

This heat wave, the second in a month, is expected to last until Tuesday. 

According to Météo-France, heat waves will become “

”, causing summers “

”.

For scientists, the multiplication and lengthening of heat waves, aggravated by greenhouse gas emissions, constitute an unequivocal marker of global warming.

Twenty fires ravage Portugal

In Portugal, whose center has been ravaged for a week by fires fanned by

, more than 2,000 firefighters were still mobilized on Thursday.

By mid-afternoon, the country had more than 20 active rural fires from north to south of the country.

According to the latest report from Portuguese civil protection, 860 people were evacuated and around 60 houses were destroyed or damaged.

In one week, the fires ravaged around 13,500 hectares, according to data available on the website of the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).

The most worrying situation is in the districts of Leiria and Aveiro.

The fires in Palmela and Faro, which on Wednesday even damaged some houses, have been brought under control or brought under control.

In Spain, the most worrying fire has already devastated at least 4,000 hectares in a mountainous area straddling the regions of Extremadura and Castile and Leon, not far from Portugal.

In

, the battle against the flames left two dead on Wednesday when a helicopter crashed into the sea while trying to put out a forest fire in the island of Samos, the coastguard announced on Thursday.

Several smaller fires have broken out in Italy

or Croatia, according to the European Copernicus system.

In the Iberian Peninsula, confronted for several days with suffocating temperatures, the thermometer reached for the second consecutive day of extreme values, with a peak of 45°C recorded at 5 p.m., near Avila, in the center-west.

Fires in northern Morocco    

In southern Europe this time, on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea, Moroccan firefighters and soldiers were also trying on Thursday to control several fires that progressed during the day in isolated wooded areas in the north of the kingdom, local authorities told AFP. 

These forest fires, fanned by a violent wind, have not caused any casualties so far but have caused the evacuation of nearly 500 families "

 " in the provinces of Larache and Taza, according to official press releases. published in the evening.

The fires are ravaging forests, difficult to access, in the provinces of Larache, Ouezzane, Tetouan and Taza, in northern Morocco, said Fouad Assali, director of the Forest Climate Risk Management Center (CRCF).

Morocco has been hit for several days by a heat wave, with temperatures approaching 45 degrees, in a context of

drought and water stress.

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