Forecasters have put 15 departments in France on alert for extreme temperatures, including the Gironde in the southwest, where fires have already wreaked havoc. It comes as firefighters battled to contain blazes across southwestern Europe on Sunday as the heat wave showed no sign of abating and Britain was poised to set new temperature records next week. The fires in France, Greece, Portugal and Spain have destroyed thousands of hectares of land and forced thousands of residents and holidaymakers to evacuate. It is the second heatwave to hit parts of Europe in weeks. Scientists blame climate change and predict more frequent and intense extreme weather events, such as heat waves and droughts. In France in the Land Forest, in the southwestern region of Aquitaine, temperatures will be above 42 degrees Celsius, according to meteorologist Olivier Proust. And Brittany, which has until recently escaped the worst of the heat, could see temperatures of up to 40C, experts say, which would be a record for the region. By late Sunday, the Gironde fires, which have been raging since Tuesday, had already destroyed 13,000 hectares (32,000 acres), driven by strong winds and forcing the evacuation of 16,200 holidaymakers, fire service officials said. Black smoke rises from wildfires in Landiras, France. Photo: Jérôme Gilles/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock – The fire in the Teste-de-Buch forest in southwestern France had reached the beach and was moving south, the local prefecture announced. Video taken by bystanders shows the massive fire destroying the beach at La Lagune, near the famous Dune of Pilat – Europe’s highest sand dune. France’s interior ministry said it was sending three more firefighting planes to augment the six already operating in the area, as well as 200 more firefighters and more equipment. But crews battling the blaze will have to deal with rising temperatures on Monday. It is one of the areas on “red alert” for the heat. “In some areas in the south-west, it will be an apocalypse of heat,” meteorologist Francois Guran of Meteo-France told AFP. Temperatures across France are expected to be above 30 degrees Celsius (86 F) but between 38 and 40 degrees in the western half of the country. Meanwhile, officials in many areas have also issued pollution warnings due to high ozone concentrations. French cyclist Mikael Cherel, competing in the 15th stage of the Tour de France between Rodez and Carcassonne in southern France on Sunday, described “very, very difficult conditions”. “I have never known such a hot day on a bike. It really wasn’t a picnic.” Fires are raging near Llandiras in southwestern France on Sunday. Photo: AP In Spain, authorities reported about 20 fires still raging out of control in various parts of the country from the south to Galicia in the northwest, where fires have destroyed about 4,500 hectares of land. The fires have already killed several emergency personnel since last week, most recently a firefighter who died late Sunday while battling a blaze in the country’s northwest. Firefighters have managed to stabilize a fire that has destroyed 2,000 hectares of woods and bushes in the southern region of Andalusia, regional leader Juan Manuel Moreno said. The fire started on Friday in the Mijas mountain range inland from the southern coastal city of Malaga and prompted the evacuation of around 3,000 people. About 2,000 people have since returned to their homes, and now that the fire has stabilized, Moreno said the remaining evacuees may do the same. A firefighter died of burns on Sunday while battling a blaze in Spain’s northwestern Zamora province, the regional government said. Firefighters battle the flames in Catalonia, Spain. Photo: Eric Renom/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez expressed his “condolences and affection” to the man’s family and colleagues. “There are no words to express the thanks to those who fight the fires without rest for their enormous work. RIP,” he added in a tweet. Sanchez is due to visit the hard-hit eastern region of Extremadura on Monday, where fires have been raging for days. The firefighter’s death comes after a pilot was killed last week when his plane crashed in northern Portugal and two crew members died in Greece when their helicopter crashed into the sea. Extreme heat claimed the lives of two men in Spain over the weekend. A 50-year-old man in Torrejon de Ardoz just outside Madrid died on Sunday after suffering from heatstroke while out for a walk, local emergency services said. And on Saturday, a 60-year-old street sweeper in Madrid died after suffering heatstroke while working the previous day. In Portugal, almost the entire country remained on fire alert despite a slight drop in temperatures after reaching 47 degrees Celsius – a record for the month of July – on Thursday. Only one large fire was burning on Sunday in the north. The fires killed two, injured around 60 and destroyed 12,000 to 15,000 hectares of land in Portugal. In the UK, the Met Office has issued a first ‘red’ warning for extreme heat, warning that there is a ‘danger to life’. The Met Office said temperatures in southern England could top 40C on Monday or Tuesday for the first time, prompting some schools to say they will remain closed next week. Organizers of a four-day march in the Netherlands canceled the first day of the mass event due to start on Tuesday due to extreme heat. The mercury is expected to reach 38C in parts of the Netherlands on Tuesday. Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
