French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that his country is experiencing its most extensive forest fires since World War II, as fire services in France, Spain and the United Kingdom battled severe forest fires.
Visiting firefighters working to extinguish a blaze in the famous Fontainebleau forest south of Paris, Macron said this summer will be “tough,” with records already broken before the peak wildfire season.
Public prosecutors have launched an investigation into a company and two of its workers who were using an electric saw while carrying out repairs on a nearby motorway. Investigators believe sparks from the saw set the vegetation alight.
A volunteer firefighter has also been arrested after confessing to having started a fire using a lighter and petrol, while another man reportedly unintentionally contributed to the outbreak by discarding a cigarette butt.
Authorities in Spain meanwhile said a fire in Aragón has already destroyed around 4,500 hectares of woodland, scrubland and agricultural land. The regional government in the north-east of the country said the fire near the village of Orés is still out of control.
Several nearby villages have been evacuated, with media reports suggesting around 500 people are affected. Authorities expect it to take several days to bring the flames under control.
A wildfire in a national park in the Scottish Highlands has also led to the evacuation of homes, campsites and other facilities. Britain’s PA news agency reported that the fire broke out on Wednesday morning and burned through the night, sweeping through 3.5 kilometres of heathland in the Cairngorms National Park. By Thursday afternoon the fire had been contained, PA reported.