France, Spain race to contain ‘monster’ fires ahead of new heatwave

Shelters in France and Spain on Monday overflowed with exhausted locals and holidaymakers forced to flee blazes so massive some were forming their own mini weather systems, as authorities warned a new heatwave was set to descend on parts of the region. The fires tearing through forests in southwest France, around the prized wine-making region of Bordeaux, and in central Spain around the capital Madrid have been some of the worst in decades and have hit at the height of the summer holiday season. More than 325,000 people have fled their homes in the face of the blazes feeding on forests left super-dry by successive heatwaves and lack of rain since May.

“Everyone had to get out of the village quickly — it was a critical situation and people were scared,” Olga Congacha, 50, told AFP on a highway in the Madrid region, where police had closed off access to her home, Robledo de Chavela. “My husband and I left with all that we could grab — our important documents and some clothes.” France’s fire has caused a “pyrocumulonimbus” — a giant fire cloud that can create its own winds and packs lightning and sometimes tornadoes that can cause more blazes, according to France’s national firefighters federation, who said the phenomenon had never before been seen in the country. “It’s a David-versus-Goliath scenario… at some point, we’ll find a weak spot and strike there,” said federation spokesman Eric Brocardi.

Thousands of firefighters, backed by specialised water-bombing aircraft have been battling the blazes and the clouds of toxic smoke. French President Emmanuel Macron will hold a crisis cabinet meeting to discuss the emergency on Monday, while Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will visit a fire-hit area in Valencia, in the east of the country where firefighters are battling a new blaze. Spain’s civil protection chief Virginia Barcones on Sunday said the country was battling a “monster” in the fire around Avila. “We are dealing with a perimeter of 280 kilometres encompassing 77,000 hectares (190,000 acres),” Barcones told state broadcaster TVE.