A wildfire tore through a historic forest near Paris yesterday, forcing highway closures and mobilising water-bombing aircraft, while Spain’s death toll from one of its deadliest wildfires rose to 13, as much of western Europe simmered in a string of heatwaves.
The region is enduring its third heatwave of the summer, with tinder-dry vegetation and high temperatures fuelling blazes from the Iberian Peninsula to France.
Many scientists say climate change is making wildfires more frequent and difficult to combat.
France deployed hundreds of firefighters to tackle a fast-moving blaze that broke out alongside a motorway near Fontainebleau, home to one of France’s best-known royal palaces.
The death toll from last week’s devastating wildfire in Spain’s southern province of Almeria reached 13 after a 93-year-old British woman died from burns on Sunday, with 10 people still missing, according to authorities.
Visiting Almeria yesterday, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called to reinforce fire prevention in the country.
But the impact of the summer scorchers could be more grim.
Scientists monitoring so-called excess deaths said there were thousands more fatalities recorded than normal during a heatwave that swept through Europe and Britain at the end of June.
Just 70 kilometres from Paris, the Fontainebleau wildfire forced the closure of the A6 highway linking Paris with Lyon and the south, and, for the first time in the Greater Paris area, the dispatch of air assets to contain the blaze which turned the skies black.
Smaller fires in the area also disrupted high-speed train services.
For the first time, Canadair water-dumping aircraft skimmed over the river Seine filling their tanks.
Up to 800 people were evacuated from their homes.
Although the fire was largely contained by yesterday, wind gusts made the task challenging, authorities said.
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