Tens of thousands evacuated from French tourist spot

French authorities have ordered the evacuation of the entirety of the Cap Ferret peninsula on the south-west coast, with hundreds of people escaping the area by boat.

Tens of thousands of people are being evacuated from the tourism destination west of Bordeaux, as firefighters continue to battle what the local prefect has described as an “XXL fire” in the Gironde region.

The fires, which began on Tuesday, have burned for days, with officials saying 10,000 hectares (almost 25,000 acres) had been consumed by the flames.

Meanwhile, the government in Spain has declared a national emergency as wildfires burn out of control in several areas close to the capital Madrid.

Responding to the spread of fires, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the president of the community of Madrid, said it was: “The worst fire in the history of the region.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez spoke of a “dramatic situation” and urged people to take great care.

Three fires were burning west of Madrid, at Villa del Prado and San Martín de Valdeiglesias.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said 40,000 people had either been or were in the process of being evacuated from the Cap Ferret peninsula, which has the Atlantic on one side and the Bay of Arcachon on the other.

Local prefect Sophie Brocas said 53 homes had been lost as well as a campsite, but that 2,000 houses had been saved.

A local councillor said 2,000 evacuees from the peninsula had already arrived by boat in the port of Arcachon on the south side of the bay.

Fire and rescue chief Marc Vermeulen said the wildfire had spread rapidly at the end of Thursday and into the early hours of Friday.

Authorities then took the decision on Friday morning to begin the evacuation of the town of Arès, which lies south-east of Lège-Cap Ferret on the Bay of Arcachon.

Vermeulen compared the fires overnight to those in 2022 – explaining the area is in a more severe state of drought now.

While in 2022, fires were “exploding” at the end of the day and the nights were favourable for firefighting, in the current fires they are exploding during the night at midnight or 01:00.

“When I say explosion, it means that for several hours, we had propagation speeds on the order of 800 to 1,000 hectares burned per hour, in the context of a suburban area.”

Further down the Atlantic coast, around the town of Biscarrosse in France’s Landes region, another major fire that began on Thursday afternoon has prompted the evacuations of more than 23,000 people.

About 18,000 people in Biscarrosse and 5,000 in Parentis-en-Born had to leave their homes, campsites, a nursing home and a summer camp.

Landes prefect Gilles Clavreul said the fire around Biscarrosse was not going to be out by the end of Friday, with winds of up to 50km/h (31mph) and temperatures of 36-37C.

He added that 105 homes and other buildings had so far been identified as either partially or completely destroyed by the flames. No further casualties have been reported overnight in south-west France.

although two firefighters died on Tuesday while tackling a blaze near Bordeaux airport. French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday night the wildfire situation in the country was “very tense” – especially in the Gironde region.

The European Union has sent three planes and two helicopters to help the French fire effort, and another four planes to Spain.

Headmaster David Morton, 53, from Gloucester had been on holiday with his wife and sons when they received an emergency alert via text overnight on Thursday instructing them to evacuate.

The family were staying in a house in Petit Piquey, along the peninsula, and were woken up at 03:00 local time (01:00 GMT) by emergency texts and an alert on the property’s landline.

“Everyone was driving with their lights on, driving very slowly – there was lots of fire service people, ambulances, police on the other side of the road controlling things and we could see several fires in the distance as we drove,” he told the BBC.

“It’s different from seeing it on the television… seeing it blazing out of control despite hundreds and hundreds of firemen and women helping.”

Olivia Jarratt, 44, was evacuated from Truc Vert campsite on the peninsula with her husband and two children in the early hours of Friday morning.

Her daughter was woken with sirens and the family left their tent, camping gear and bikes behind as they made the drive to Bordeaux.

“At first, we dismissed it, and thought she was having a nightmare, but we realised it was all going on, and everyone was packing in a panic.

There’s only one road off the peninsula, so people were trying to be as quick as possible.

“There was a loudspeaker with the sirens, but obviously that was in French, and with everything, we couldn’t understand what was happening.”

The Cap Ferret peninsula has a year-round population of just under 8,000 but that can swell by 10 times that number in peak season.

Around 20,000 people within the Gironde region had been evacuated on Thursday many of whom were visitors to campsites on the peninsula.

Further evacuations also took place from La Porge on Thursday night which Brocas said had taken place “calmly”.

She added that homes in evacuated areas would be monitored to prevent any vandalism.

“Significant resources” remain on the ground tackling the blaze while additional ground and air reinforcements are due in the coming hours.