Summer wildfires are once again blazing across southern Europe, forcing the evacuation of 12,000 people on France’s Mediterranean cost and devouring swaths of forests as far afield as Corsica, Portugal, Italy and Albania.
Authorities in the Côte d’Azur region decided to move people out of tents, campsites and holiday homes around the hilltop town of Bormes-les-Mimosas after a fire broke out in the surrounding forests on Tuesday.
Some of the 12,000 people displaced by the flames sheltered in gymnasiums, village halls and schools while others huddled on local beaches.
Karine Dolczewski, a mother of four from Pas-de-Calais who was on holiday with her family in the area, said they had been ordered to leave their holiday centre at about 10.30pm on Tuesday.
“The sky was all red,” she told Le Monde. “It was a huge blaze with enormous flames spreading everywhere.”
After hearing gas canisters exploding at a nearby campsite, guests at the centre in La Manne were told they needed to evacuate.
“We left everything there except for the baby’s bottle and nappies,” Dolczewski added. After marching calmly in single file down to the beach, they were taken to the village hall in Bormes-les-Mimosas.
Local journalists photographed several people curled up in sleeping bags on the sand while smoke from the fire could be seen in the distance.
On Tuesday, more than 4,000 firefighters and troops backed by 19 water-bombers had already been mobilised to extinguish the flames.
At least 12 firefighters have been injured and 15 police officers affected by smoke inhalation since the fires broke out on Monday, according to the authorities.
With strong winds and dry brush creating a dangerous mix, the government asked its European partners to send two extra firefighting planes – a request immediately fulfilled by Italy, according to the EU.
But one union official denounced what he said was a lack of spare parts that was preventing all the aircraft from being put into action.
Gerard Collomb, the interior minister, said France would be adding six more firefighting planes to its fleet. He made the announcement on Tuesday during a visit to the French Mediterranean island of Corsica, which also been badly affected by fires.
The number of people on France’s Côte d’Azur swells in July and August as holidaymakers head to the beach, and the area is experiencing an exceptionally hot, dry summer that has made it especially vulnerable to fires.
On Wednesday, Eric Martin of the Var firefighting unit told the BFM-TV channel that nearly 600 firefighters were trying to contain flames that had run through 1,300 hectares (3,210 acres).
Four tracker planes and a firefighting aircraft were sent in as thick black smoke billowed above the skyline.
The airport in Toulon, a city 25 miles (40km) from Bormes-les-Mimosas, was briefly closed on Wednesday, as well the Fort de Brégançon, which sits on a rock off the coast of Bormes.
The wildfires began raging along France’s Mediterranean coast two days ago, forcing smaller, scattered evacuations, with flames reaching a corner of Saint-Tropez.
A fire in nearby La Croix-Valmer was under control by Tuesday evening, according to the local fire chief, Philippe Gambe de Vergnes.
The blaze had already consumed 400 hectares of coastal forest in an area dotted with homes, he said. More than 200 people had to be moved from the area.
La Croix-Valmer’s deputy mayor, René Carandante, described a desolate landscape of blackened headlands fringed by charred umbrella pines, where green forest had once framed the azure waters of the Mediterranean. “It’s a disaster area. There’s nothing left,” he said.
François Fouchier, of the local coastal conservation group, said local wildlife, such as the Hermann’s tortoises, would be victims of the fires. “We are going to find burnt shells,” he said.
About 50 miles (80km) inland, 300 hectares of pines and oaks went up in smoke near the village of Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume. A local official accused the authorities of failing to regularly remove dry undergrowth, making the forest a fire hazard.
Further south, flames ate through 2,000 hectares (4,950 acres) of forest on the northern end of Corsica.
In Portugal, more than 2,000 firefighters were battling nine major wildfires on Wednesday, with drought conditions, high temperatures and strong winds fuelling the flames.
Another 1,000 firefighters were conducting mopping-up operations at 37 different Portuguese woodland blazes.
Ash floated in the air and vast plumes of smoke covered areas of central Portugal, in the area around Serta, about 125 miles (200km) north-east of Lisbon. The Civil Protection Agency said 24 water-dropping aircraft were in action.
Serta is close to Pedrógão Grande, where 64 people died in a wildfire last month. No injuries have been reported in recent days as the blazes raced through thick eucalyptus and pine forests.
Large wildfires are a common occurrence in summer in Portugal, where thousands of firefighters are on duty in the hottest months.
In Italy, where fires have raged for weeks, firefighters responded to 26 requests for water and fire retardant air drops on Tuesday, throughout central and southern Italy, including Calabria, Sicily, Sardinia, Lazio and Puglia.
The Coldiretti agriculture lobby said 50 billion bees were destroyed along with their hives in fires on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius. Coldiretti said another 20% of the bee population is estimated to have become disoriented and died as a result.
Albania’s interior ministry said 130 firefighters were battling 18 fire spots around the country on Wednesday.
A spokesman, Ardian Bita, said fires were blazing in five western and central districts, damaging 15 hectares (37 acres) of pastures, vineyards and dozens of olive trees.
Firefighters, military personnel and local authorities have been fighting about a dozen wildfires every day in Albania since the end of June. No injuries have yet been reported. Authorities have arrested several people accused of starting fires.
“Compared to a year ago we have increased public awareness and have also had better communication with the communities and local authorities,” said Bita.