More than 12,200 people have now been evacuated from their homes in southwest France as firefighters struggle to bring wildfires under control, regional authorities said on Saturday. Close to 10,000 hectares are on fire in the Gironde region, reports RFI.
Over the weekend, the heatwave is expected to extend to the north where temperatures are expected to match those of the south of France with peaks of 40 degrees across the country.
Multiple fires have already broken out with two major conflagrations in the Gironde department in the south-west. One is thought to have been started deliberately, the Bordeaux public prosecutor's office said.
President Emmanuel Macron, visiting the Operational Centre for Crisis Management (Cogic) in Paris, said that there will be a full “mobilisation" of state services. "We will continue to hold," he assured the public.