Thousands evacuated as wildfires blaze across Europe
Thousands of Europeans from several countries have been evacuated as wildfires are burning down homes. The fires spread through Portugal, Spain, France, and Croatia earlier this week. Now, helicopters are being deployed to help put out the fires.
About 10,000 people were evacuated from campsites around the town of Landiras in southwestern France. Fires have now burnt about 5,300 hectares there. Over 1,000 firefighters worked to put out the fires, deploying nine water-bombing planes. A local official, Fabienne Buccio, urged tourists planning trips to the region to steer clear of the area for a few days or weeks.
In western Spain, a fire forced 49 children to be evacuated from a summer camp in Salamanca province. Regional authorities said more than 4,000 hectares of land had been burned.
In Croatia, forest fires blazed along the Adriatic Coast. Firefighting planes dumped water over the forests, and troops were called to help the firefighters. One man, 55 year old Arndt Dreste, told Reuters that he had just moved to his village this year after selling his home in Germany. Now, his house has been strongly damaged by the fire. Arndt said…
“I bought this house in January … I am cut off from Germany and this is my life here … it was here.”
The fires across Europe come in the wake of a heat wave, with temperatures hitting the mid-40Cs in some parts. For much of Europe, this is the second heat wave of the summer.
SOURCE: Reuters | Weather.com
