Fire crews keep blazes near Bordeaux under control as heatwave picks up

BORDEAUX, France, July 29 - French firefighters kept a major blaze west of Bordeaux that had prompted mass evacuations under control overnight, ahead of forecast rising temperatures and winds which are expected to fan fires on Wednesday.

"The night was quiet; the fire remains under control this morning, with several flare-ups quickly brought under control during the night," Sophie Brocas, the prefect of the Gironde department, said in a post on X at 0400 GMT on Wednesday.

The wildfire in the Landes area west of Bordeaux, a popular tourist destination, has devastated 42,000 hectares (103,784 acres) of mainly pine tree forests, after a severe dry spell caused by a series of heatwaves.

After battling the fire for a week, fire crews with the support of European peers have managed to contain the blaze. However, another heatwave, the fourth so far this summer, is set to make conditions more volatile in the coming hours.

Temperatures in the area are expected to peak at 42 degrees Celsius (108 degrees Fahrenheit) on Wednesday, according to Meteo-France, while dry winds from the southwest in the morning and from the west in the afternoon are likely to stoke flames, Brocas said.

France is going through an unprecedented wildfire season. The area burned has already surpassed the previous record year of 2022.

The Landes area is covered by pine forests, which become highly flammable when dry. The fire burned a few hundred houses.

Authorities have evacuated about 220,000 people, including holidaymakers and local residents, as the fire threatened the Cap Ferret peninsula on the Atlantic coast, only accessible by one road. Hundreds left on specially chartered ferries.

Several thousand people south of the region were allowed back as firefighters put out a minor blaze near the town of Biscarrosse.

Several companies on the outskirts of the historic city of Bordeaux closed their operations preventively as the flames went as close as 15 kms (nine miles) from the metropolitan area. REUTERS