Wildfires

Campaigners worry politicians will have moved on by time of elections in which Marine Le Pen is expected to challengeAs dozens of forest wildfires burned across France this week amid the summer’s fourth brutal heatwave and increasing air pollution, some wondered whether voters’ first-hand experience of the climate emergency would change the political debate ahead of next year’s presidential election.The Green leader, Marine Tondelier, who cut short a tour of France on medical advice that at seven months pregnant she should avoid breathing smoke-filled air in the south-west near a huge wildfire in Gironde, said the political class still had its head in the sand. Continue reading...

Ferocious flames continue to rage in parts of France and Spain, with no sign of abating. We chart the destruction in graphics and picturesThe hellish infernos that have torn through parts of France and Spain have caused deaths, the evacuation of 330,000 people from their homes, widespread destruction and clouds of toxic smoke. Records have already been smashed and with the fourth heatwave of the European summer setting in, there are few signs of the waves of wildfires ending.France has already surpassed the worst previous year for the size of the area burned, with August, usually the hottest month, yet to come. Continue reading...

Authorities fear progress in containing the fires in the Gironde and Madrid regions may be set back by temperatures expected to hit the low 40sFrance and Spain are braced for the fourth heatwave of the summer to hit just as they were making progress battling destructive wildfires, with temperatures once again expected to cross into high 30s and low 40s celsius later today.Sophie Brocas, the ⁠prefect of Gironde and the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, said overnight that the fire remained contained this morning, with several flare-ups quickly brought under control. Continue reading...

French authorities order evacuation of almost 4,000 people from Lacanau resort amid return of heatwaveEurope live – latest updatesThe evacuation of nearly 4,000 people from tourist sites on France’s Atlantic coast is under way as the return of winds and extreme heat jeopardised firefighters’ battles to contain wildfires raging to the west of Bordeaux.The precautionary evacuation order, which covers campsites, holiday villages and other tourist accommodation around the resort of Lacanau, exacerbated a wildfire emergency described by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, as the “toughest” situation the country had dealt with “since the second world war”. Continue reading...

Three years after Maui wildfires many still struggle with ‘biological, emotional and social consequences’, study saysA spate of ferocious wildfires across North America and Europe, worsened by the climate crisis, have incinerated homes and forests and forced thousands of people to flee. Previous fires suggest the effects of these blazes may linger for years to come.The current fires and their plumes of smoke can appear to be a temporary, if immediate, crisis. Nearly 1,000 fires have sprung into life in the boreal forests of Canada, causing the evacuation of towns and toxic smoke to waft into major Canadian and US cities, prompting threats of retribution from Donald Trump, who bizarrely accused Canada of “poisoning” his country’s air. Continue reading...

Emmanuel Macron warns that ‘we have to hold out’ as fires burn near city; Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez warns of ‘difficult hours’ aheadFrance and Spain race to contain huge wildfires before fresh heatwave beginsThe return of searing temperatures, from today in France and tomorrow in Spain, will complicate efforts to fight massive wildfires raging in the Bordeaux region and a number of sites in Spain.On a visit to a crisis centre in Bordeaux, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, warned:“The coming weeks will be tough and we have to hold out.” Continue reading...

• The Guardian editorial argues that European governments are dangerously deprioritizing climate policies despite the increasing frequency and severity of global heating. • Recent devastating summer wildfires across Europe serve as a vivid illustration that climate measures are an urgent necessity rather than optional additions. • The piece contends that accelerating the EU's transition to net zero is essential for securing Europe's competitive position in future global markets.