France: 2 Fires Burn 1,200 Hectares of Forest Land

Paris- Two fires raging in southwestern France have displaced thousands of campers and burned over 1,200 hectares of forest land, local authorities informed on Wednesday.

Efforts to contain the fire in Landiras and La Teste-de-Buch in Gironde which began on Tuesday have failed due to high temperatures amid the ongoing heat wave.

Nearly 600 firefighters are engaged, alongside two Canadair and two Dash planes water bombers.

“The conditions were very unfavorable at the start, with wind and very hot, very dry weather,” Vincent Perrier, the sub-prefect of the Langon district, told BFMTV news.

To prevent human injuries, in a late-night operation, authorities evacuated 6,000 campers in five campsites, around Dune du Pilat in Teste-de-Buch of the Arcachon district.

More than 445 hectares of forest land have been engulfed in the fire, according to a statement by the Gironde prefecture.

The campers have been temporarily taken to the exhibition center and the Leclerc shopping mall, the statement read.

About 70 kilometers (44 miles) away from La Teste-de-Buch, east of Landiras in Langon, 500 people in the five hamlets and the village of Guillos were evacuated Tuesday night and brought to safety, while over 800 hectares of pine forests have burnt down in the area, according to the same source.

Authorities have shut down local roads around the fire sites and appealed to residents to not wade in the area.