Ammon News - Firefighters battled throughout the night ‌and into Monday morning to tackle huge wildfires threatening the French city of Bordeaux.

About 220,000 people have been evacuated in France, while in neighbouring ​Spain more than 75,000 people have been evacuated ​and a further 30,000 ordered to shelter in place, ⁠authorities said over the weekend, as Europe faces an intense ​summer heatwave.

"This is a fire of a size never seen ​before," said Jerome Steffe, mayor of Cestas, on Monday. Cestas is one of the suburbs that lies just outside the main Bordeaux city ​area and from where thousands have had to be evacuated from ​homes and holiday residences.

The blazes, which broke out last week near the ‌Atlantic ⁠coast, are now 15 km (10 miles) away from entry points to the main metropolitan area of Bordeaux.

A major risk is that temperatures in Bordeaux are set to rise to 37 ​degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees ​Fahrenheit) later ⁠this week, according to forecasts from France's weather office.

"It's a race against time before the ​heatwave returns," added Steffe.

President Emmanuel Macron's government will ​discuss ⁠the wildfires situation at a cabinet meeting on Monday.

So far in July, high temperatures have averaged 32.2 degrees Celsius in the ⁠Aquitaine ​region, which is 7.3C above the month's ​normal high between 1961 and 1990, according to Reuters Climate Monitor.


Reuters