France Contains 42,000-Hectare Bordeaux Megafire as Faulty Machine Spark Triggers Blame
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 1
France Contains 42,000-Hectare Bordeaux Megafire as Faulty Machine Spark Triggers Blame
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 1
Summary
200,000 evacuees from the Bordeaux-area megafire are starting to return after crews contained the 42,000-hectare blaze, though daily flare-ups and underground "zombie" fires still threaten nearby communities.
A spark from a faulty machine used while cleaning a high-tension cable ignited the fire in tinder-dry forest, and within six hours the blaze had raced 6 km to Le Porge's outskirts.
Le Porge lost 20% of its homes, hotels and campsites in nearby resorts remain empty, and residents say firefighters were initially overwhelmed and aircraft and other resources arrived too slowly.
France's ageing firefighting plane fleet and lax wildfire-rule enforcement have come under renewed scrutiny as officials try to avert a political backlash over the country's largest peacetime evacuation.
Record EU fire weather and deadly blazes from Spain to Greece have turned the Bordeaux disaster into a wider warning that climate-driven extremes are arriving earlier and hitting harder.