Published 18.13
Southern Europe is a powder keg.
Last night Tove Riddarsparre, 59, saw the fire inferno from her hotel room in France.
– It was difficult to breathe and smelled of fire smoke even inside the hotel, she says.
The pictures from the forest fires in the south France reminds me of a doomsday movie.
The sky is colored red and the smoke is thick. Houses in the small French villages are completely burned to the ground.
In the southwestern part of the country, near Perpginan, 10,000 people have had to flee their homes. 700 firefighters have been sent to fight the flames, write The Guardian.
Tove Riddarsparre, 59, from Linköping is on holiday with her husband in Canet-en-Roussillon – an hour’s drive from the worst fires.
It has been burning there all night.
– We have a view of the mountains. It looked like a lava flow, lit up by the embers and flames. A bit nasty, you might think, she says.
The village shrouded in smoke
In the morning the whole town was shrouded in smoke. Even inside the hotel room there was a smell of fire smoke and it was difficult to breathe.
– I was a bit wondering if we will have to leave here because of the fire. It is intrusive and quite close as I experience it.
But they haven’t heard anything at the hotel about any evacuation plans. On Tuesday, the couple will travel to the east of the country.
– It is very hot here, between 35-38 degrees. And right where we are, it has been very windy for a few days. Almost like thunderstorms. I think that may have contributed to the fact that it has been difficult to put out these fires, says Tove.
Stopping Tour de France crowd
The fire in the Perpignan area has almost tripled in size since Sunday. Five people have been injured, including a firefighter, according to Reuters.
– It was only 300 meters from the houses. We were shocked at how quickly it spread. It was astonishing – on the verge of panic, Patrice from the village of Trévillach told AFP.
On Monday, the third stage of the Tour de France passes through the village. Due to the fire, the local authorities have closed the route to the public, but the cycle race is allowed to continue.
In the neighboring village of Ille-sur-Têt, the trees are black and the cars charred.
Red readiness
A total of about 20 fires are ongoing in the country.
Seven departments in the south of France have gone up on red alert because of the “very high risk” of forest fires. 41 other areas have orange alert
In a speech on Monday, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said nearly 14,500 hectares have burned this season – almost three times more than at the same time last year.
“You must help us”
The heat waves in May and June have made large areas of land in Western Europe very vulnerable to forest fires.
According to the research group World Weather Attribution, the extreme temperatures during June would have been “practically impossible” without the climate crisis, writes The Guardian.
This week, temperatures are expected to rise again, and locally it could reach over 40 degrees.
– Climate change is here, we are experiencing the consequences and it is only the beginning of July. It’s going to be a long season for the firefighters. You have to help us, says Eric Belgioino, the fire chief of the Pyrénées-Orientales, to The Guardian.
Sweden has sent two firefighting aircraft to help. Cyprus has also sent aircraft.
“Europe stands by France,” writes EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on X.
Greek factories on fire
Fires are also raging in Spain, Portugal and Greece, Croatia and Albania.
Portugal’s Minister of the Interior Luís Neves describes the conditions as a “powder keg”.
In the Greek city of Thessaloniki, the fire has spread to two factories.
Residents in parts of the city are being asked to stay indoors and keep windows and doors closed due to toxic fumes from one of the factories.
