More Than 250,000 Evacuated in Europe as Wildfires Rage

 

Raging wildfires in Europe have now displaced more than 267,000 people in at least two countries.

In southwest France, 197,000 people in the Bordeaux region have been forced to flee, while Spain has for the first time declared a national emergency because of a wildfire, the Guardian reported.

So far, 70,000 residents who live in villages west of Madrid have been asked to evacuate, the outlet reported, noting high winds were driving the fires in Spain.

“The fires ravaging our country have reached an unprecedented level,” French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu wrote on X.

Video posted to social media showed massive flames consuming parts of France.

The fires have become so big, they’re apparently generating their own weather, CNN anchor Salma Abdelaziz reported Saturday:

In southwestern France, more than 140,000 people are fleeing massive wildfires.

Authorities ordered evacuations from tourist hotspots along the Atlantic coast, where two major fires are threatening both campsites and homes. Now, some people are seen fleeing the area by boat.

Authorities say the wildfires are burning so intensely that they’re actually generating their own weather system.

France’s interior minister says one of the fires is moving towards the Bordeaux metropolitan area. Dozens of firefighters have been injured so far. President Emmanuel Macron is asking other European countries to help in battling the blazes.

The European fires come weeks after hundreds of wildfires in Canada swathed large parts of the United States in acrid smoke, prompting repeated air quality warnings and recriminations from President Donald Trump.

Watch above via CNN.

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