“That’s really, really, really a catastrophic spread with a very high flame with an intense heat,” Lassoureille, a captain with the Service Départemental d’Incendie et de Secours (SDIS) 33 in Bordeaux, told As It Happens guest host David Cochrane. Five campsites also went up in flames in that area, Gironde authorities said. Over 2,000 firefighters and water-bombing aircraft are combatting 2 huge forest fires in the Gironde region in southwestern France. Despite dedicating all available resources to put out the Gironde fires, Lassoureille says it’s not clear how much longer the fight will last under current conditions. Residents of more than a half-dozen towns and villages in the Gironde region were ordered to evacuate due to the fires.

Source: CBC News July 21, 2022 02:29 UTC