Wildfires threaten Bordeaux as France, Spain battle blazes

BORDEAUX/MADRID July 26 (Reuters) - Wildfires advanced towards the outskirts of the historic city of Bordeaux, at the heart of France's winelands, on Sunday as France and Spain battled blazes that have forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people. About 220,000 people have been evacuated in France, while more than 75,000 people in Spain have been evacuated from their homes and around 30,000 more ordered to shelter in place, according to authorities. In France, fires have ravaged the Cap Ferret peninsula on the Atlantic coast, a popular tourist destination, and spread through areas surrounding Bordeaux, where firefighters were trying to prevent the flames from reaching the regional capital. The fire is about 15 kilometres away from the entry points to the main city, Bordeaux Mayor Thomas Cazenave said on Sunday, while Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on X that the situation remained difficult. In Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited fire-hit areas in Avila, one of three central provinces affected by major blazes alongside Madrid and Toledo, where more than 45,000 hectares have burned. The fires are the latest disasters linked to prolonged drought and successive heatwaves that scientists say have been intensified by climate change. In both Bordeaux and Avila, July high temperatures have averaged 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit), almost 6 C above the month's normal high between 1961 and 1990, according to the Reuters Climate Monitor. Under the European Union's civil protection mechanism, Greece and Italy have each sent two Canadair firefighting aircraft to Spain, while Portugal has deployed more than 100 military personnel along with equipment. Sanchez said his government would on Tuesday declare a civil protection emergency for the central provinces plagued by the wildfires, unlocking additional recovery funding. More than 150,000 hectares have burned across Spain since January, he said, six times the area destroyed during the same period last year. Pope Leo, speaking from his summer residence of Castel Gandolfo outside Rome, offered spiritual support.