Almost ۵۰۰ people have been arrested on suspicion of starting wildfires in France since the start of the summer, authorities have said, as firefighters in half a dozen European countries tackle ferocious blazes amid a record-breaking heatwave.
With three out of five Europeans facing temperatures of at least ۳۰C on Friday and about ۱۵۰ million enduring ۳۵C or more, France’s interior ministry said ۴۷۴ people, including ۱۸۳ minors, had been detained over wildfires in the country since ۱ July.
About ۷۰% of those arrested were suspected of deliberately starting fires and the rest of doing so accidentally, it said. French media said a ۱۵-year-old boy had been detained in connection with a fire near Bordeaux airport that killed two firefighters in July.
French authorities on Friday evacuated more than ۵۲۵ people from the village of Luglon in the south-west region of Landes after a new wildfire tore through almost ۱,۱۰۰ hectares (۲,۷۰۰ acres) of tinder-dry pine forest in less than ۲۴ hours.
“The situation is unfavourable and the fire remains raging,” Gilles Clavreul, a regional official, told reporters, adding that ۵۰۰ firefighters were tackling the flames and six water-dumping aircraft had been sent to assist. Roads to the village were closed.
Luglon is about ۶۲ miles (۱۰۰km) south-east of the popular holiday destinations of Arcachon Bay and the Lège-Cap-Ferret peninsula where two huge wildfires destroyed more than ۵۰,۰۰۰ hectares in late July, forcing the evacuation of as many as ۲۲۰,۰۰۰ people.
Scientists say climate breakdown is causing more frequent and more extreme weather events, evaporating soils and waterways, fuelling wildfires and leading to thousands of excess deaths in France. Europe is heating at about twice the global average rate.
In western Germany, more than ۲,۰۰۰ people fled their homes early on Friday morning to take shelter in a nearby primary school after a wildfire in the nearby Hürtgen forest spread to within a few hundred metres of the village of Gey.
“This forest fire threatens to hit the local community hard,” Mona Neubaur, the deputy premier of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, posted on social media. Unexploded second world war ordnance was also hampering firefighting efforts.
The news agency dpa reported explosions could be heard as munitions detonated in the flames, forcing firefighters to stay out of the area, not far from the Belgian border, for safety. German army tanks and helicopters were providing support.
In Croatia, a wildfire driven by strong winds descended on the tourist town of Lokva Rogoznica on the Dalmatian coast overnight, engulfing houses, forcing about ۱,۰۰۰ people to evacuate and injuring several dozen, fire brigade and health officials said.
Of ۳۶ people treated by ambulance services in the city of Split, about ۱۵.۵ miles to the north, ۱۴ were admitted to hospital and seven had life-threatening injuries, local health officials said. Emergency shelters opened in several nearby towns.
“It was a strong fire, it swept everything on its way … there has been huge material damage,” Slavko Tucaković, the regional chief fire commander, said on Friday, adding that the blaze appeared to have calmed by Friday morning.
The country’s prime minister, Andrej Plenković, said on a visit nearby Omiš, where the evacuees were sheltering in a sports hall, that the blaze was “one of the worst fires in recent years” but “the most important” there were no confirmed fatalities so far.
A stretch of a major coastal highway was shut. “Everything flared up in a second,” Goran Lović, the owner of a cafe near where the fire broke out, told the Jutarnji List newspaper. “It just happened all of a sudden, there was an open flame.”
In north-east Spain, an army unit removed the remains of three ۱۱th-century Aragonese kings from the San Juan de la Peña monastery after it was threatened by a wildfire and took them to a museum in nearby Huesca.
The fire, which began on Monday, intensified on Thursday, authorities said, driven by higher temperatures and strong winds that have enabled it burn through more than ۹,۰۰۰ hectares, forcing the evacuation of ۱۶ towns and villages.
A much larger wildfire in southern Spain also worsened on Thursday. It has so far burned ۳۱,۰۰۰ hectares in the province of Huelva and forced the evacuation of about ۷۰۰ people.
In northern Greece, a fleet of small boats evacuated about ۵۰۰ holidaymakers from beaches on Thursday as a forest fire threatened Siviri and Fourka, two popular resorts on the Halkidiki peninsula, south of the city of Thessaloniki.
The ۲-mile-long fire front, with flames up to ۳۰ metres (۹۸ft) high, was brought under control later in the day, the regional civil protection chief said, though crews remained on alert for flare-ups. Two injured firefighters were taken to hospital, the fire service added.
A maximum level-five alert for fires was issued for much of the Greek mainland and local officials in Halkidiki have banned access to the region’s dense pine forests. Winds of up to ۶۲ mph are forecast for Friday.
In the UK, wildfires raced across the West Midlands, burning several houses to the ground in “one of the most significant” incidents the region’s fire service has ever had to deal with, the regional fire chief, Simon Tuhill, said.
Reuters and Agence-France Press contributed to this report
