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LE TAILLAN-MÉDOC, France — A hot haze settled in the Bordeaux area on Friday as hundreds of firefighters from across Europe joined their French counterparts to battle a raging wildfire in the southwest of the country.
The fire in the Gironde region, which flared up again on Tuesday after burning here for the first time in July, is one of the worst of the season. It has scorched 19,000 acres of forest, displaced more than 10,000 people and spread fear and insecurity in the quiet towns scattered across the French countryside.
Firefighters contained the blaze overnight, local officials said, but temperatures remained high and fresh winds could hamper efforts to fight the blaze.
The fire comes amid a particularly hot summer in France and across Europe, where several countries are suffering historic droughts.
Over the past two months, temperatures have soared to 104 Fahrenheit in south-west France, which is home to the Bordeaux wine region. The sweltering heat and scant rain helped ignite an estimated 264 fires across France this year alone, according to data collected by the European Forest Fire Information System.
Mélanie Morales Tutou, 39, an executive assistant from the town of Saint-Magne, was a few hours from home on vacation with her family when she received news of an evacuation order on Tuesday.
Racing home to tend to her cats and pet pig, she drove past rows of denuded, blackened shells where pine forests once stood. She snagged important documents, she said, but the 130-pound pig refused to move. Tutou left her a large supply of zucchini and apples and hoped for the best.
“The village was a cloud of black smoke,” she said. “The firefighters told us to leave and not come back.”
Almost 400 firefighters from Germany, Poland, Greece, Italy, Austria and Romania have been dispatched to France to fight the fire. Saint-Magne Mayor Ghislaine Charles said in a phone interview on Friday that firefighters have been sleeping at City Hall, both in their office and outside in the garden.
Firefighters have slept in their office at City Hall and outside in the garden.
“It really is a dragon breathing fire,” she said of the fire. “It devours the forest.”
In the past few days, thick clouds of smoke have piled up over the area’s beaches and highways. Local authorities closed the A63 motorway, which connects Bordeaux to northern Spain, due to poor visibility.
Gironde Region President Jean-Luc Gleyze said an investigation was underway to determine whether the fire reignited naturally or was caused by arson. He said although the original fire was extinguished in July, it could have penetrated the ground and survived underground as it erupted to the surface due to the dry ground, hot air and strong winds.
Almost half of Europe is below what the European Drought Observatory calls “alert conditions,” indicating severe drought and a large land deficit.
The overall pattern of more intense and frequent heat waves is the result of human-caused climate change, experts say.
Europeans shocked by ‘heat apocalypse’ as temperature records fall
In southern France, firefighters were exhausted but determined.
“We have to push it back,” said Guy Rougé, a volunteer firefighter in Saint-Magne. “We have to protect people. We have to protect the houses. And when those things are done, we can take whatever time we need to put out the fire.”
Tsui reported from Washington.