A perfect storm of heat, drought, and wind is fueling wildfires across much of southern Europe. Roaring blazes have forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of French and Spaniards. They've also killed at least one man over the weekend. Authorities in France’s Gironde region and the Spanish cities of Madrid and Ávila have ordered over 350,000 to evacuate. Fire claimed the life of a man in suburban Valencia, Spain, on Saturday. This brings the death toll for Europe's summer wildfires to 17. “We still have some difficult hours ahead,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said in a TV briefing Sunday. Sánchez noted that firefighters fighting blazes west of Madrid had made progress “bringing the flames under control.” But a new wall of fire broke open in Valencia overnight. It forced 15,000 people to leave the city. France is hardest hit by fires. There, roughly 260,000 people have left their homes to stay safe. Firefighters were still struggling Sunday to contain a massive blaze near Bordeaux. That blaze has scorched a region four times the size of Paris. It's being called the Gironde fire. Bordeaux's Mayor Thomas Cazenave said it was “at the gates" of his city. The fire kept burning Sunday within 20 miles of Bordeaux. France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on X that the situation is “very unfavorable.” The fire became very strong, making its own wind and moving erratically, Nunez said. Sánchez said the fires are a direct result of a “climate emergency.” He called for a “major public pact” among countries to deal with it. Meanwhile, evacuees wondered when they'd be allowed to go home, if ever. “It looked like the apocalypse,” Rocio Dominguez said of her Madrid suburb. "You couldn’t see anything. Everything was covered in ash.” Reflect: Think of a time something out of your control forced you to adapt quickly. What did you do? Photo of firefighters in Gironde, France from Reuters.
