France orders evacuation of tourist spot as hundreds flee wildfires by boat

What the report says

BBC World News reported that French authorities have ordered the evacuation of the whole Cap Ferret peninsula, also known as Lège-Cap-Ferret, on France’s south-west Atlantic coast as a wildfire continues to spread in the Gironde region. Hundreds of people have left by boat, while others have been directed to travel by road toward Bordeaux. The evacuation order affects a well-known tourist destination during the summer holiday period.

According to the BBC, the fire started on Tuesday in Saumos and had burned 8,700 hectares, or about 21,500 acres, by Friday morning. Gironde prefect Sophie Brocas announced what was described as the final stage of the peninsula evacuation, with boats made available from four piers during a morning window. Around 20,000 people in the wider Gironde area had already been evacuated on Thursday, many of them visitors staying at campsites.

The BBC also reported that no additional casualties were recorded overnight in south-west France, after two firefighters died on Tuesday while responding to a blaze near Bordeaux airport. Farther south along the coast, another large fire around Biscarosse in the Landes region has forced more than 23,000 people to leave homes, campsites, a nursing home and a summer camp.

French President Emmanuel Macron described the wildfire situation as very tense, particularly in Gironde, and said he had requested European Union assistance. Aircraft support was expected from Croatia, Portugal, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Separately, Spain has declared a national emergency as fires burn near Madrid, with some communities evacuated.