France on alert as firefighters brace for a ‘heat apocalypse’

Forecasters on Monday put 15 French departments on the highest state of alert for extreme temperatures.

A firefighters sprays music festival-goers in Brittany. Picture: AFP

France was on high alert on Monday as the peak of a punishing heatwave gripped the country, while bushfires raging in parts of southwest Europe showed no sign of abating.

Forecasters have put 15 French departments on the highest state of alert for extreme temperatures as neighbouring Britain was poised to set new heat records this coming week.

In the UK, the weather office issued its first-ever “red” warning for extreme heat, cautioning there was a “risk to life”.

The Met Office said temperatures in southern England could exceed 40C on Monday or Tuesday for the first time, leading some schools to say they would stay closed this week.

The mercury is set to reach 38C in parts of The Netherlands on Tuesday.

The heatwave is the second to engulf parts of southwest Europe in weeks, and blazes burning in France, Greece, Portugal and Spain have destroyed thousands of hectares of land and forced thousands of residents and holiday-makers to flee.

Scientists blame climate change and predict more frequent and intense episodes of ­extreme weather such as heatwaves and drought.

In France’s Landes forest, in the southwest Aquitaine region, temperatures would be above 42C on Monday, forecaster ­Olivier Proust said. And Brittany, which until recently escaped the worst of the heat, could register temperatures as high as 40C, say experts, which would be a record for the region. In the southwestern Gironde region, firefighters continued to fight to control forest blazes that have devoured nearly 11,000ha since Tuesday.

Spanish authorities reported about 20 fires raging out of control from the south to Galicia in the far northwest, where blazes have destroyed around 4500ha.

The fires have already killed several civilians and emergency personnel since last week, most recently a fireman who died late on Sunday while battling a blaze in northwestern Spain.

The fires in France forced more than 16,000 people – residents and tourists combined – to evacuate. France’s interior ministry announced it would send an extra three firefighting planes, 200 firefighters and more trucks.

“In some southwestern areas, it will be a heat apocalypse,” said meteorologist Francois Gourand.

The chapel of a historic hospital in the southeastern city of Lyons, Grand Hotel Dieu, offered refuge to tourists on Sunday, ­including Jean-Marc, 51, who was visiting from Alsace.

“We came back to admire the place, but we can’t leave, it’s too hot outside,” he quipped.

“We say a prayer before the fire.”

In Spain, firefighters managed to stabilise a bushfire that ravaged 2000ha of woods and bushes in the southern region of Andalusia.

In Portugal, almost the entire country remained on high alert for fires despite a slight drop in temperatures, after hitting 47C – a record for July – on Thursday. Only one major fire was burning in the north.

AFP