British expats and holidaymakers caught in the wildfires that have forced more than 300,000 people to evacuate in France and Spain described apocalyptic scenes and hasty retreats.
As flames ravaged the province of Bordeaux, forcing local authorities to evacuate 55,000 people from villages to the south of the city, one British couple living close to the area held their breath – literally.
“All I could see yesterday for the entire day were thick clouds of smoke that had travelled long distances,” Diane Kirkwood told The i Paper. “There was smoke everywhere coming from the fires around Bordeaux, the sun had almost been covered black, there was little sunlight and it was a bit hard to breathe.”
Kirkwood and her husband run an off-grid holiday retreat of glamping cabins in the woods of Dordogne, a tiny village to the north-east of Bordeaux.
“We know we’re lucky, our area over here has been spared by the flames. The fires were tens of miles away from where we live and run the cabins,” she said. “We have been living here for years and it has never been so hot as this summer. It is hard not to worry as we do live in a forest full of trees after all.”
