The fire in Gironde, France, spreads and the smoke already reaches Paris. Photo: EFE
Climate change has brutally installed itself in France and Great Britain. Tuesday was a stark revelation for the French and British to see the fire and smoke advancing near their capitals.
Paris was covered in smoke Tuesday evening by the force of the wind that devastates the Gironde, Pila and its dunes together with the fire and a fire a little closer: in Yvelines, not far from where the Brazilian footballer Neymar lives.
The inhabitants of the capital and the Ile de France could see the smoke and smell the fire in the hyper-hot night of Tuesday, 600 kilometers from the Gironde, where the fires are centered.
Smoking has spread across the country as well They plunged Paris into the fogwith fine dust pollution.
President Emmanuel Macron was due to travel to Gironde this Wednesday afternoon. He demanded the requisition of two civilian helicopters to fight the fire. He would have reached Teste de Buch, near Arcachon and Landiras, the completely evacuated city, 40 kilometers from Bordeaux, and the most affected.
Smoke and orange sky from forest fires in Landiras, France this Wednesday. Photo: EFE
Extreme temperatures: photos of the sweltering heatwave across much of Europe
At least 20,600 hectares were burned in the Gironde. The fire did not escalate during the early morning. But there is more fires in the countryside: in Lazare, in Le Mans, in Morbihan and the 7,000 hectares of the Pilat dune, which has weakened the ecosystem and can move even faster.
no preparation
Unimaginable temperatures and above 40 degrees covered Great Britain and France. A test: neither France nor the kingdom were willing to resist him.
Trains have been suspended, the runways of large airports and military bases have melted.
People couldn’t go to work. Teleworking was imposed for health reasons, with Covid growing alarmingly in France and chinstrap mandatory in many places.
The British firefighters were not prepared to respond a fire that destroyed 41 houses unexpectedly in Wennington, on the eastern edge of the capital, when drought and grass were a lethal combination for the advance of the fire.
Wednesday, destruction and charred roofs at a campsite in the Gironde region of southwestern France. Photo: AFP
There wasn’t even an evacuation plan. prepared for those families, who suddenly lost everything and were evacuated with what they were wearing.
Fires in Great Britain
East London authorities didn’t know how to put out a fire in Wennington, on the edge of the capital, and others 21 outbreaks emerged in Greater London.
Dozens of houses, cars, were lost in fires that firefighters were unable to stop or fight. The water was powerless. The population lost their pets or did not want to abandon them, when the fire advanced at great speed due to the wind. They also lost home ownership documents, family photos, passports, credit cards, check books. A drama for everyday life.
The firefighters were not prepared, there was no water, they had no place to evacuate those who had lost their homes.
Climate change has arrived and has found everyone without training to deal with it or plan B in the UK. They had never experienced such a phenomenon.
British firefighters described the simultaneous fires as “a serious accident”. One of the firefighters described the working conditions, at those temperatures, “like hell itself”.
The Wennington fire brought together 12 fire engines and 100 firefighters.
Homes were evacuated 5 miles in all directions following a “significant grass fire” in Dagenham, which was unexpectedly moving into the residential area. People were asked to keep windows and doors closed to prevent smoke from entering.
unprecedented catastrophe
But the fires were repeated from north to south, from east to west of the country, when the temperature reached 41 degrees in Great Britain. In Sheffield, Stettisham Beah, Hull, Portsmouth, Swansea, Margam, “serious incidents” have been reported. They were places that had never known this type of fire.
Houses destroyed by flames in a huge fire in Wennington, on the outskirts of London, on Wednesday. Photo: BLOOMBERG
“Fires are no longer an Australian problem. On a small scale, we are seeing them frequently and intensely in Britain. We need designers to consider building permits to build houses close to those vulnerable to fires,” explained Paul Redington of the insurer Zurich UK.
In Great Britain it was forbidden to use tractors, harvesting machines, lawn mowers, barbecues that could cause sparks that could cause fires.
Temperatures are expected to begin to drop on Wednesday, with showers, storms and floods across London, the south-east and east of England. In Paris the rain has already started and the temperature has dropped.
Paris, correspondent
CB
Maria Laura Avignolo
Source: Clarin
