Wildfires force evacuation of suburbs around Bordeaux, France

BORDEAUX, France- Thousands of people were evacuated from suburbs near Bordeaux on Saturday as wildfires in areas around the city in southwest France showed no signs of abating.

Sophie Brocas, who heads the local administration of La Nouvelle-Aquitaine et de la Gironde, which covers the Bordeaux region, said the areas of Le Haillan, Eysines and Merignac were being cleared out.

The Bordeaux region is famed for its vineyards and the city is one of the main transport hubs for tourists visiting nearby holiday resorts on the Atlantic coast.

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said more than 141,000 people had so far been evacuated from the Gironde and Landes regions close to Bordeaux where the wildfires broke out this week. Motorists were advised to avoid the region.

"The fires that are hitting our country have reached a level that has never been seen before," Lecornu wrote on X on Saturday. The army has also been drafted in to help.

North of Bordeaux, smoke emanating from the wildfires was seen and felt in the Haute-Vienne region, where local authorities advised people to keep doors and windows closed.

So far this month, temperatures have averaged 32.2 degrees Celsius (90 Fahrenheit) across the broader Aquitaine region, which is 7.3C (13.1F) above the normal high for July between 1961 and 1990, according to data on Reuters Climate Monitor.

Reporting by Camille Raynaud, Stephane Mahe, Elizabeth Howcroft and Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Susan Fenton and Kevin Liffey/Reuters