Large forest fires burned out of control in southwestern France and central Spain on Friday, prompting authorities to evacuate at estimated 80,000 people from their homes. Some even fled by boat when flames swept through the touristic Cap Ferret peninsula on France’s Atlantic coast.
Some 100 square kilometers (38 square miles) have been consumed by the blaze that has raged since Wednesday near Cap Ferret. Located just 60 kilometers (37 miles) from Bordeaux, the peninsula offers stunning landscapes and sandy beaches as well as oyster-farming villages and upmarket resorts.
More than 60,000 residents in France escaped the area, and both France and Spain have asked fellow European Union members for help.
“It’s quite impressive and even frightening,” said Laurent Moretti, a resident in the town of Arès. “An evacuation on this scale has never happened before. All we really hope is that the firefighters can quickly get it under control.”
More than 20,000 people had already been evacuated from towns and vacation resorts on Thursday. The new evacuations were carried out by road, with boat shuttles provided for people who could not travel by their own means.
