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By Mandy Taheri and Ellie Cook
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Wildfires ravaging France have burnt through roughly 162 square miles of land, French authorities said on Sunday, an area approximately seven times the size of Manhattan engulfed in flames as local officials evacuated tens of thousands of people overnight.
More than 300,000 people have fled their homes as catastrophic wildfires tear through France and Spain, overwhelming emergency responders and prompting officials to declare historic disaster measures.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu warned the blazes have reached "a level that has never been seen before."
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The crisis has been fueled by extreme heat, severe dry spells, and high winds—conditions scientists link to rising global temperatures that are lengthening fire seasons and intensifying blazes worldwide.
The majority of French evacuations have centered on the southwestern Gironde region near the city of Bordeaux, where fast-moving flames that broke out on Wednesday forced roughly 220,000 people from their homes.
Another 55,000 people were evacuated from around the city overnight into Sunday, with local authorities partially shuttering a major highway leading into Bordeaux and stopping train services. Bordeaux Mayor Thomas Cazenave said the flames were roughly nine miles from the city at their closest point.
The country's interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, said emergency services had a "tough" night with "unpredictable" fires.
France Mobilizes Its Military to Combat Flames
Roughly 1,500 military personnel have been deployed to help the nearly 1,200 police officers evacuating local residents and carrying out rescue operations, Nuñez said.
A total of 2,500 firefighters, including a team from Switzerland, have been deployed, as well as 450 volunteers. Several other European nations, including Romania and Portugal, have sent aid or personnel.
France deployed an A400M cargo aircraft capable of dropping 20 tons of retardant to battle the flames. Nuñez said on Sunday the aircraft would be deployed again.
Roughly 14 square miles of land has been scorched in the Landes region south of Bordeaux, with close to 550 firefighters and 420 military police officers battling blazes in the region on Sunday. Around 36,000 people have been evacuated from the area.
In Var, which is home to the famed French resort of Saint-Tropez, close to 3,000 people were evacuated as a precaution, Nuñez said.
Firefighters are contending with blazes in other areas of France, including along the border with Italy and on the island of Corsica, the interior minister said.
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Spain Declares First-Ever National Emergency
In neighboring Spain, where blazes also erupted in mid-July, officials declared the country's first-ever national emergency over a wildfire as crews battled multiple fires near the capital, Madrid, the nearby city of Toledo and the Ávila province.
More than 121,000 people have been evacuated or warned to take shelter, with wildfires spreading to just under 300 square miles of territory in Spain. Thirty-seven roads have been closed, according to the country's Ministry of the Interior.
One person was killed in a wildfire on the outskirts of the coastal city of Valencia, local authorities said on Saturday, marking the first known death in Spain related to this round of blazes.
Spanish Health Minister Mónica García issued air quality warnings for Madrid residents, advising them to stay indoors and wear protective masks. "We’ve never seen anything like this," Javier Organista, a resident of El Tiemblo west of Madrid, told the Associated Press.
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Wildfires Force Tour de France Changes
Tour de France organizers announced they will shorten Sunday's final stage because of “exceptional circumstances caused by the wildfires.” The Interior Ministry is reassigning some of the security forces that had been scheduled to police the Tour de France's final stage so they can help with evacuations, public safety, traffic management and emergency response in areas threatened by the fires.
"In a spirit of national solidarity with the areas and communities affected, it was decided to adapt the route for the final stage from Thoiry to Paris," the organizers said in a statement.
The final stage was originally scheduled to cover about 83 miles but will instead be shortened to about 55 miles.
The nearly monthlong Tour de France began July 4 and is scheduled to conclude Sunday after 21 stages.
Meanwhile, authorities and firefighting crews across Europe are closely monitoring weather conditions, hoping lighter winds and rainfall will help slow the fires' spread and aid containment efforts.
Contact Newsweek editors for this story: Steve Mollman and Anthony Murray.
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