One dead, houses destroyed as forest forests in southern France

On Wednesday, the French firefighters were fighting to control the largest fire in the country for nearly 80 years, as the fire in the southern Aude area has already swept a larger area of Paris.

One person died in the village of Saint Laran de Lalla Caprice, about 30 kilometers from Perbinian, the province said. The fire, which spread very quickly across the forests and villages, burned at least 25 houses, forcing residents and tourists to flee. Many ways are closed.

“It is an unprecedented catastrophe,” said Prime Minister Francois Payro visiting Saint Laurent de Lalla Caprice.

So far, more than 15,000 hectares have been burned. Interior Minister Bruno Retailio said that this is similar to the total area that was burned throughout France in several years of past years. He added that this was the largest area burned by one fire in France since 1949.

The Dutch National Rennat Cote, who was on a vacation in St. Laurent de Lalla Caprice, said no time to prepare.

“One moment we were on the phone with our children … thinking,” see, fire! “The next day, we had to jump in the car and leave, while we pray for protection.” We are fine. Surprisingly. “

“It is incredible. It is a catastrophe,” said Issa Medina, Spain. Medina was with her family in Saint Laurent de Lalla Caprice.

The governorate said that the fire was advancing “very quickly” and that nearly 2000 firefighters were trying to control it. She said that about 2,500 families in the area were currently without electricity.

Eric Brocardi, a spokesman for firefighters, Eric Brukardi Radio RTL, said the fire was spreading 5.5 km/h.

A high risk of fires due to the weather

Officials and experts have warned that the wind had changed the direction, which increases the efforts to combat the forest fire.

Scientists say that the hottest summer in the Mediterranean region exposes it to a great danger of forest fires. Once the fires begin, the dry, abundant vegetation and strong winds in the area can spread quickly and burn out of control.

“With climate change, it is expected that the risk of land fires is expected to increase during the summer, but also extends to the fall and spring, and spreads southwest, center and northern France,” said Serge Zaka, a climate and agricultural analyst.

Meanwhile, Spain has suffered from a long heat wave since Sunday, which was expected to extend until next week, with temperatures up to 43 degrees Celsius in some areas.

High temperatures in the fan helped many forest fires.

On Wednesday, the emergency services were still fighting to put a fire in a Tarifa resort in the kites in southern Spain, which was believed to have started when a caravan was caught in a convoy in the camp.

Antonio Sanz, Minister of Interior of the Regional Government of Andalusia, said that wind storms of up to 50 km/h and high temperatures mean that some of the fire extinguished parts have been reshaped.

In Portugal, forest fires burned more than 42,000 hectares so far this year, the largest region since 2022 and eight times more than the same time last year.

More than half of that area has been affected in the past two weeks amid high summer temperatures. In the early hours of Wednesday, firefighters managed to control a large fire that had been ready since Saturday near Vila Real in the north, where the heat wave raised temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius this week.