Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / More than 250,000 flee as France and Spain battle unprecedented wildfires

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More than 250,000 flee as France and Spain battle unprecedented wildfires · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The fires near the Spanish capital continued to spread almost unchecked.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Their progress rapid and, according to officials, now out of
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: control and beyond the capacity of firefighters to contain. Their
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: progress is relentless, consuming brush, agricultural land and residential areas.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: People had to take what they could and flee.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: I saw clouds of smoke rising into the sky. Yeah,
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: that's when I realized something was happening.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: The Entensis.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: I think we all panicked. Then we received the message
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: telling us to get ready, take whatever valuables we could,
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: whatever was most important. I took my cat and we left.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Despite efforts through the night to contain the fires, officials
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: said on Saturday that the multiple blazes near Madrid have
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: now merged into one fire. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: was more optimistic about taming the fires, but warned that
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: the time to get the upper hand was slim.
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: We have a window of opportunity this weekend to fight
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: the wildfire and therefore to protect lives, protect population centers,
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: and ultimately to bring this very serious wildfire under control
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: as far as possible.
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: That is the Grabisimo Intendio.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: And in neighboring France. Firefighters continued to battle a huge
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: wildfire in the Gironde region. The French government used one
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: of its a four hundred m military transport aircraft refitted
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: to drop tons of fire retardant, hopefully to halt the
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: spread of the flames. It was the first time France
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: had deployed the plane to fight a forest fire. There
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: were long traffic jams on the few roads that allowed
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: people to escape the fires as they closed in on
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: the city of Bordeaux.
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: We've had to evacuate school groups, young people seeing at
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: holiday camps, as well as the most vulnerable individuals, including
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: residents of nursing homes.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: Evacuation efforts in both countries may have saved lives, but
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: the damage to health, property, agricultural land and nature is
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: likely to be incalculable.
• 2:26
  Speaker 5: All right, let's go to Bordeaux now, and dw's Tessa
• 2:29
  Speaker 5: Walter is standing by for us at an evacuation center. Tessa,
• 2:32
  Speaker 5: great to see you. So what's the latest you can
• 2:34
  Speaker 5: tell us about the fires near to where you are.
• 2:40
  Speaker 6: We just came out of a press conference and the
• 2:42
  Speaker 6: authorities told us that around thirty three thousand hectares have
• 2:46
  Speaker 6: burned here in the region of Bordeaux, around one hundred
• 2:49
  Speaker 6: and forty homes have burned already, and these are only
• 2:52
  Speaker 6: estimations because really seeing the gravity of the situation will
• 2:56
  Speaker 6: probably only be possible once the fire has been extinguished.
• 2:59
  Speaker 6: For now, it is neither contained nor under control, they
• 3:03
  Speaker 6: have told us. And why are we in this situation? Well,
• 3:06
  Speaker 6: because here in the Boddle area, we're facing the harshest droughts,
• 3:09
  Speaker 6: the toughest once since twenty and twenty two, and the
• 3:13
  Speaker 6: firefighters have started fighting this drought very early on in
• 3:17
  Speaker 6: the year and it has continued because the winds have
• 3:22
  Speaker 6: kept changing. We see pine trees that are planted here
• 3:26
  Speaker 6: around Baldeaux, which are the perfect breeding grounds for these
• 3:30
  Speaker 6: fires because they can they can continue and find their ways.
• 3:36
  Speaker 6: And they were at the coastal areas first. They have
• 3:38
  Speaker 6: moved towards Bordeaux overnight, and this is why people have
• 3:42
  Speaker 6: been evacuated and right now we're still in the middle
• 3:46
  Speaker 6: of it.
• 3:46
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it sounds like a really desperate situation. Still, what's
• 3:50
  Speaker 5: happening with the evacuations and how many people are we
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: talking about now?
• 3:57
  Speaker 6: Just to give you some numbers, we had sixty thousand
• 4:00
  Speaker 6: people being evacuated overnight, and that makes it a total
• 4:03
  Speaker 6: of around one hundred and seventy thousand, six thousand of
• 4:07
  Speaker 6: those have been put in here in this evacuation center.
• 4:10
  Speaker 6: It used to be well, it is normally an exhibition
• 4:14
  Speaker 6: center and has turned into a refuge for people. Here.
• 4:18
  Speaker 6: They have put up beds. As you can tell, there's food,
• 4:21
  Speaker 6: there's water, there's even a counseling center where people can
• 4:25
  Speaker 6: talk to someone if they are in distress. And I
• 4:29
  Speaker 6: can give you really the idea that there is a
• 4:31
  Speaker 6: lot of solidarity amongst the people here. They're trying to
• 4:35
  Speaker 6: help each other out, they're trying to listen. But it
• 4:39
  Speaker 6: is also a fact that this can only hold up
• 4:43
  Speaker 6: until while they told us ten thousand people and a
• 4:46
  Speaker 6: lot of people slept in their car last night because
• 4:48
  Speaker 6: they weren't enough beds. They were ouned enough enough spots
• 4:52
  Speaker 6: to find rest. So they were told stay in your car.
• 4:56
  Speaker 6: You're better off in there than on the floor in here.
• 5:00
  Speaker 5: It sounds pretty tough for the people there a one
• 5:02
  Speaker 5: hundred and seventy thousand people. You said, it's a lot
• 5:04
  Speaker 5: of people, and you've been speaking to some of those affected, right,
• 5:10
  Speaker 5: what have they been telling you?
• 5:14
  Speaker 6: Yeah, we spoke to her grandmother, a mother and their son,
• 5:17
  Speaker 6: and they at first didn't want to leave their home.
• 5:20
  Speaker 6: They were with the dog, said oh no, it will
• 5:22
  Speaker 6: be fine. The police came knocking on their door and
• 5:25
  Speaker 6: they were resistant, but then eventually they decided to leave
• 5:28
  Speaker 6: the area because just the smoke, they told us, was
• 5:31
  Speaker 6: becoming unbearable. They couldn't breathe anymore. They showed me pictures
• 5:35
  Speaker 6: of ashes on the ground right in front of their
• 5:37
  Speaker 6: front door, and they were asking themselves, well, what is
• 5:40
  Speaker 6: the last thing I want to lose? And I mean,
• 5:43
  Speaker 6: you can only take a couple of things right when
• 5:45
  Speaker 6: you leave your home and have to rush out, So
• 5:47
  Speaker 6: they were saying it was medicine. They took a bit
• 5:50
  Speaker 6: of clothing, food for the dog that they took as well,
• 5:53
  Speaker 6: and some family pictures they didn't want to lose. And
• 5:56
  Speaker 6: now are they here in this all sleeping tonight right here,
• 6:00
  Speaker 6: And they were telling me they're very just very very
• 6:03
  Speaker 6: thankful for the firefighters out there protecting their homesome and
• 6:06
  Speaker 6: they just hope that they will be able to return
• 6:08
  Speaker 6: in the next coming days.
• 6:09
  Speaker 5: Yeah, doing some incredible work, it has to be said,
• 6:12
  Speaker 5: those firefighters. And tell us what measures are authorities taking
• 6:16
  Speaker 5: to combat the blazers.
• 6:20
  Speaker 6: Yeah, here as well. I have some figures for you.
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  Speaker 6: We have four hundred firefighters that are currently in action
• 6:27
  Speaker 6: here and eighteen aircraft that are distributing water. There are
• 6:32
  Speaker 6: five hundred soldiers that have been deployed and another five
• 6:35
  Speaker 6: hundred that are coming in, so there is deployment from
• 6:38
  Speaker 6: all over France and even Europe has been called upon
• 6:41
  Speaker 6: right to help the people here fight the flames. The
• 6:45
  Speaker 6: government and the authorities taught us now that they are
• 6:47
  Speaker 6: also looking for accommodation where people can stay for the
• 6:49
  Speaker 6: next few days, because having people here for days is
• 6:54
  Speaker 6: complicated obviously, but there is a bit of hope because
• 6:57
  Speaker 6: there is a weather. The weather and the next Today's
• 7:00
  Speaker 6: a set to cool down a little bit, so the
• 7:02
  Speaker 6: authorities want to make use of this window before we
• 7:05
  Speaker 6: are facing temperatures over thirty five degrees again in the
• 7:07
  Speaker 6: middle of next week.
• 7:09
  Speaker 5: Yeah, thanks so much, Tessa for that update. Dw's Tessa
• 7:12
  Speaker 5: Valter in Bordeaux.
• 7:13
  Speaker 6: For us.
• 7:15
  Speaker 7: Joining us now to give us an even keener sense
• 7:18
  Speaker 7: of what firefighters and residents are facing. Is DW correspondent
• 7:22
  Speaker 7: Nicole Reese in Madrid. Nicole just a few of the
• 7:26
  Speaker 7: words I've been seeing describing this fire intense, violent, out
• 7:31
  Speaker 7: of control, paint a picture for us how bad is
• 7:35
  Speaker 7: this and how worried are authorities that the fire could
• 7:38
  Speaker 7: threaten the densely populated capital Madrid.
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: I might add one description never seen before. This fire
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: in the region of Madrid is historic. We have never
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: had such a bad situation in terms of wildfires here
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: in the region. Nevertheless, at the moment, it doesn't look
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: like the capital would be compromised by it. It could
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: obviously at some point if this isn't stopped reach suburbs.
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: This is something that could happen, But at the moment,
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: the biggest fire is around sixty kilometers away from where
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: I am here in the capitol. What we though notice
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: is of course that the air has changed already. For
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: two to three days, we've seen the massive smoke coming
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: across the city, massive clouds of smoke, and since yesterday
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: evening it smells very badly like smoke. So it's really
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: not recommendable to be outside if you can avoid it,
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: or at least have a mask ready or something to
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: protect your airways your lungs. These are microparticles that will
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: impact your health in my body. It has already caused
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: different reactions from headaches to not being able to climb
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: up a staircase in the normal pace. Because I noticed
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: it here even though I was wearing a mask when
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: I was outside. So that gives you a slight glimpse
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: on what it is and feels like in the Capitol. Obviously,
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: there's also many people here who know or have family
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: in the villages and towns that are affected, so the
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: worry is very big also among people in the Capitol.
• 9:17
  Speaker 7: Yeah, there is danger even if you don't see flames.
• 9:20
  Speaker 7: As we heard in the report, fire officials are saying
• 9:23
  Speaker 7: the blaze is beyond the capacity of firefighters to contain,
• 9:28
  Speaker 7: while Prime Minister Sanchez insists there's a window of opportunity
• 9:32
  Speaker 7: this weekend. What is the Prime Minister talking about, Nicole.
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: I mean, there are hopes that temperatures maybe maintain a
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: lower level. We've seen a drop off temperatures in the
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: capital as well. Last night it was very pleasant, but
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: you couldn't open the windows. And I think this is
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: what he also means when he mentions it that this
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: might be something that we can hope for that maintains
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: a bit the lower temperatures, although it will rise again
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: in a few days, and also that the wind might
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: shift into a direction where it is easier for the
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: firefighters to work. Said that though we can't really predict
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: how the wind will be, it is one of the
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: biggest issues during these battles against the flames. The regional
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: president Isabel Dieta Usha said worse things could even happen
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: in this situation still, so at the moment we're living
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: a very critical time. Still the flames are not under control,
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: and this state that you just described, that they're not
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: having the capacity to put out these flames, well, this
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: can mean several things. Among others, it can mean that
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: fighting the flames is too risky for the firefighters' lives
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: as well. This can also mean that it's too hot
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: and the blaze is just too big, so there needs
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: to be a change of strategy. So there's several factors
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: to that as well. We obviously hope that at some
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: point the wind will be not against the firefighters but
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: sort of with him, so they can tackle it. But
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: at the moment, the worry is really that it spreads
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: further and that a third fire that is coming from
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: the next region might unify with the bigger fire that
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: we have now, which yesterday was two fires in the
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: region of Madrid and they fused, and there might be
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: a third one that is coming closer to this other blade,
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: so that's a worry as well at the moment.
• 11:23
  Speaker 7: Okay, that's a DW correspondent, Nicole Reese in Madrid. Many
• 11:27
  Speaker 7: thanks to you.