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Wildfires Prompt Evacuations in Southern Europe and Spectator Ban on One Tour de France Stage
Blazes burned more than 190 square kilometres across four countries on Monday. Officials restricted access to a Tour de France stage near Perpignan as temperatures rose toward 40C.
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Wildfires raged across southern Europe on Monday, forcing thousands of people to evacuate their homes and prompting officials to ban spectators from a stage of the Tour de France cycling race, Euronews reported. Hundreds of firefighters battled blazes that devastated more than 190 square kilometres of land across Portugal, Spain, France and Greece.
Temperatures were predicted to reach 40C in parts of the region.
In southwestern France near Perpignan, 700 firefighters backed by special aircraft battled a blaze that has nearly tripled in size since early Sunday, devouring 46 square kilometres. More than 10,000 local residents were evacuated, and a firefighter and a resident were injured. "The fire came within 300 metres of the houses.
We were taken aback by how fast it spread, it was staggering, bordering on panic," said Patrice, a 53-year-old resident of the village of Trevillach. "We started seeing smoke around 10:30 pm, then it kept coming closer and closer. Someone from the town hall knocked on our door around 1:00 am to tell us to leave," said Charlotte Pignol, 30, who was among the first to be evacuated.
In Greece, flames from a forest fire tore through two factories in Thessaloniki over the weekend. Authorities evacuated the area and warned households to keep windows closed. In Spain, a fire near the Costa Brava coast burned more than 2,200 hectares in two days.
In Portugal, emergency services controlled 80 percent of a wildfire that devastated 13,000 hectares in the north. Major fires also destroyed hundreds of hectares on the Croatian island of Hvar and at Tale in Albania. Regions across Portugal, Spain and southern France stepped up heat alerts.
The latest heatwave was expected to move north and could last until next weekend. Monday's third stage of the Tour de France through the Pyrenees took place without spectators. The stage was limited to riders and essential vehicles on French territory, regional prefect Pierre Regnault de la Mothe told reporters.
