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WILDFIRES

Wildfires reignite in south western France forcing residents to leave homes

Wildfires have reignited in the south western France amid unseasonably high temperatures leaving over one 1,300 hectares burned and forcing residents to evacuate their homes.

Published: 13 September 2022 09:21 CEST
Wildfires reignite in south western France forcing residents to leave homes
Firefighters are at work to protect houses threatened by a wildfire in Saumos near Bordeaux, southwestern France, on September 12, 2022. (Photo by PHILIPPE LOPEZ / AFP)

As parts of southern France bake under record-high temperatures for September, forest fires reignited again in the south west, causing at least 1,300 hectares to burn and forced residents to leave their homes.

A smaller wildfire outside Dax, which is to the south of Bordeaux, burned an additional 45 hectares.

The blazes forced 540 residents in the town of Saumos, located in France’s Gironde département, to be evacuated. Four homes were destroyed.

The fires started on Monday afternoon, but strong winds and unfavourable weather conditions made it difficult for the 340 firefighters working through the night to contain the flames.

READ MORE: MAP: Where are the main wildfires in France right now?

Significant air resources were also deployed, including two Canadair planes, two helicopters and a Dash plane.

Images of the firefighting effort can be seen below:

“The winds are turning, and the town that is beginning to be surrounded by flames. Firefighters a little overwhelmed because it is coming from all sides. We are still in the process of evacuating sectors” said the mayor of Saumos to BFMTV on Tuesday morning.

Local authorities for the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region and Gironde département released the update below on Tuesday morning, stating that the fire was continuing to burn:

An investigation was also opened to determine the origin of the new flames, as gendarmes in Gironde consider the possibility it was caused by arson.

The wildfires broke out as several towns across south west France recorded record high temperatures for the month of September, with heat brought on by a post-tropical cyclone off the coast of Portugal. On Monday, Bordeaux recorded 37.5C – a peak for September that has not been seen since 1987.

Temperatures were expected to remain around 30C in the Bordeaux area on Tuesday, though the heat was expected to begin dissipating mid-week as rain and storms roll in across the region.

READ MORE: September temperature records broken in France amid new heatwave

Throughout the dry summer – France’s second hottest on record – the south west was affected by major fires that burned over 30,000 hectares in La Teste-de-Buch and Landiras.

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CLIMATE CRISIS

‘Extreme’ climate blamed for world’s worst wine harvest in 62 years

World wine production dropped 10 percent last year, the biggest fall in more than six decades, because of "extreme" climate changes, the body that monitors the trade said on Thursday.

Published: 26 April 2024 08:48 CEST
'Extreme' climate blamed for world's worst wine harvest in 62 years

“Extreme environmental conditions” including droughts, fires and other problems with climate were mostly to blame for the drastic fall, said the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) that covers nearly 50 wine producing countries.

Australia and Italy suffered the worst, with 26 and 23 percent drops. Spain lost more than a fifth of its production. Harvests in Chile and South Africa were down by more than 10 percent.

The OIV said the global grape harvest was the worst since 1961, and worse even than its early estimates in November.

In further bad news for winemakers, customers drank three per cent less wine in 2023, the French-based intergovernmental body said.

Director John Barker highlighted “drought, extreme heat and fires, as well as heavy rain causing flooding and fungal diseases across major northern and southern hemisphere wine producing regions.”

Although he said climate problems were not solely to blame for the drastic fall, “the most important challenge that the sector faces is climate change.

“We know that the grapevine, as a long-lived plant cultivated in often vulnerable areas, is strongly affected by climate change,” he added.

France bucked the falling harvest trend, with a four percent rise, making it by far the world’s biggest wine producer.

Wine consumption last year was however at its lowest level since 1996, confirming a fall-off over the last five years, according to the figures.

The trend is partly due to price rises caused by inflation and a sharp fall in wine drinking in China – down a quarter – due to its economic slowdown.

The Portuguese, French and Italians remain the world’s biggest wine drinkers per capita.

Barker said the underlying decrease in consumption is being “driven by demographic and lifestyle changes. But given the very complicated influences on global demand at the moment,” it is difficult to know whether the fall will continue.

“What is clear is that inflation is the dominant factor affecting demand in 2023,” he said.

Land given over to growing grapes to eat or for wine fell for the third consecutive year to 7.2 million hectares (17.7 million acres).

But India became one of the global top 10 grape producers for the first time with a three percent rise in the size of its vineyards.

France, however, has been pruning its vineyards back slightly, with its government paying winemakers to pull up vines or to distil their grapes.

The collapse of the Italian harvest to its lowest level since 1950 does not necessarily mean there will be a similar contraction there, said Barker.

Between floods and hailstones, and damp weather causing mildew in the centre and south of the country, the fall was “clearly linked to meteorological conditions”, he said.

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