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Firefighters from five European states deployed to France as forest fires rage out of control

By Chris King • Published: 11 Aug 2022 • 20:07

Firefighters from five European states deployed to France as forest fires rage out of control

Image of a firefighting aircraft. Credit: Twitter@JanezLenarcic

Firefighters are being deployed from five European countries to help France battle forest fires that are blazing out of control.

Firefighters from five European states have been deployed to help tackle the forest fires that are burning out of control in the Maine-et-Loire and Gironde regions of Bordeaux in Southwestern France. Germany, Greece, Poland, Austria, and Romania have all offered assistance, according to French President Emmanual Macron today, Thursday, August 11.

In excess of 10,000 firefighting personnel are battling what is probably the worst series of fires in France’s history. France is in the middle of its worst drought ever recorded, and the government has put the EUCivPro Mechanism to fight forest fires into force. He praised the work already being carried out by the brave firefighting crews.

Janez Lenarcic, the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, who is in charge of European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid, today announced that four aircraft have been dispatched by the EU firefighting fleet from bases in Greece and Sweden.
 

Macron spoke earlier today of the many people who have either lost their homes or have been evacuated, tweeting @EmmanuelMacron: “For people evacuated from areas in flames, it is waiting and worrying. For the affected inhabitants, it is sometimes a life that is erased. Save all lives, save all that can be saved, then rebuild: no one will be forgotten”.

It has been reported that more than 100 towns and villages have lost their water supplies in the affected areas. Christophe Bechu, the French environment minister yesterday, Wednesday, August 10, described the situation as a ‘historic’ crisis. He urged residents to save water at all costs, as fleets of vans were deployed to transport water to desperate residents. 

The Copernicus satellite that monitors the whole of Europe has warned of extreme heat causing even more fires in at least 13 countries, as can be seen from the tweet below.

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Written by

Chris King

Originally from Wales, Chris spent years on the Costa del Sol before moving to the Algarve where he is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com

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