LEGE-CAP FERRET, France — French President Emmanuel Macron urged fire crews to “stay strong” as they battled Monday to bring a monster wildfire under control, warning that the fight will take time but vowing, “We will win this battle together,” reports BritPanorama.
On a visit to a coordination center for the massive firefighting effort in southwest France, Macron acknowledged the wildfire, which has been raging since last week, as wildly unpredictable, transforming at times into a self-feeding firestorm that burned through an area four times the size of Paris and forced 220,000 people to flee their homes.
“We’re facing a completely unprecedented fire,” Macron stated, describing the situation as France’s worst fire-related crisis since World War II.
He praised firefighting teams who managed to halt the inferno’s progression Monday after days of spreading flames inching closer to the wine region city of Bordeaux. However, with woodlands still smoldering, he and other government officials cautioned that the battle isn’t yet won, as forests remain tinder-dry due to successive heat waves this year, with another expected in the coming days.
“The weeks ahead will be hard. We must hold firm,” Macron said.
Fire crews racing against feared next heat wave
With thousands of firefighters on the ground and rotations of water- and retardant-dropping aircraft, it became a race against time Monday to contain the blaze before temperatures soar, with national weather service forecasts predicting highs of 35 C (95 F) and above in southwest France starting Tuesday.
Authorities are also focused on feeding, sheltering, and caring for evacuees who fled in staggering numbers: 250,000 in the southwest, driven away by two significant fires.
Macron spoke of displaced people “traumatized” by the upheaval and “who sometimes have lost everything.”
The situation remains precarious as firefighting efforts continue in the face of impending heat.
