France evacuates Cap Ferret peninsula as wildfires rage, Macron activates EU civil protection mechanism

Evacuations underway

French authorities ordered the full evacuation of the Cap Ferret peninsula on Friday morning, a popular Atlantic tourist resort, as two wildfires burned uncontrolled in the southwest. Boats were deployed from three piers to evacuate residents and visitors, with around 400 people ferried to safety by sea between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. local time, according to Nouvelle-Aquitaine prefect Sophie Brocas. The peninsula, connected to the mainland by a single road, is home to valuable properties and crowded with summer holidaymakers in campsites and rental homes. An estimated 40,000 people were affected by the evacuation order, though most left by road.

Everyone still in these villages must leave either by boat or by the only road linking the area to the mainland.

Further south, in the Landes department, an additional 8,000 residents of Parentis were ordered to evacuate on Friday as a fire that started in Biscarrosse spread southeast. This came on top of 23,000 people already displaced from the area since Thursday night, state representative Gilles Clavre said. More than 20,000 people had already been evacuated from coastal zones around Bordeaux since Wednesday, the majority tourists staying in campsites and holiday homes.

EU assistance requested

President Emmanuel Macron announced on Friday that France had formally requested the activation of the European Union's civil protection mechanism, describing the situation as extremely tense, particularly in Gironde.

France has requested the activation of the European Union's civil protection mechanism. We will soon be able to count on reinforcements from two Croatian Canadair, two Portuguese Air Tractor, and two heavy Black Hawk helicopters from Czechia and Slovakia.

The aircraft are expected to join the firefighting effort shortly, Macron said, thanking European partners for their solidarity. The request underscores the severity of the blazes, which have been fuelled by record heatwaves linked to climate change, turning the landscape into a tinderbox.

Firefighting efforts

Around 800 firefighters are battling the flames in Gironde alone, supported by water-bombing aircraft. The northern front of the Gironde fire has been brought under control, but the southern flank continues to burn uncontrolled, according to France24. Fire crews are engaged in house-to-house combat to protect the resort of Lège-Cap-Ferret, said Marc Vermeulen, head of forest fire operations for the area.

We are fighting house-to-house to protect the popular tourist resort of Lège-Cap-Ferret.

Five firefighters have been lightly injured or suffered minor health incidents, Clavre reported, but no civilian casualties have been recorded so far. In the Landes, 500 firefighters were also deployed, with officials saying no injuries had occurred there.

Scale of destruction

The fires have consumed vast tracts of forest and scrubland. The Cap Ferret blaze has burned 87,000 stremmata (8,700 hectares) and is still raging, according to regional authorities. In Gironde, approximately 48,000 stremmata (4,800 hectares) have been destroyed, while another 2,000 hectares were scorched west of Bordeaux. The fires are being driven by strong Mistral winds in the southeast, where dozens of new outbreaks have been reported.

Residents' ordeal

For those forced to flee, the evacuation was sudden and frightening. Patrick Martineau, a 69-year-old resident of Le Porge, south of Bordeaux, described the moment authorities arrived.

The gendarmes came and knocked on every door. The fire was about 500 metres away. We took a few things and left.

With the peak summer season underway, the economic and human toll is mounting, though no fatalities have been reported. Authorities continue to monitor the situation as reinforcements arrive from across Europe.