France evacuates four more towns near Bordeaux as wildfire advances

French authorities expanded evacuations near Bordeaux on Saturday, ordering four additional towns to clear out as a massive wildfire in the Gironde department raged on. The new evacuations impact nearly 60,000 residents in areas including Saint-Médard-en-Jalles, Saint-Jean-d'Illac, Martignas-sur-Jalle, and Saint-Aubin-de-Médoc.

Sophie Brocas, the prefect of Gironde, announced the measure, highlighting the need to protect a high-risk industrial site in Saint-Médard-en-Jalles. The site produces components for the European Ariane rocket and missiles. Traffic information service Bison Futé urged motorists to avoid the Gironde department, anticipating heavy holiday travel, and recommended alternative routes between France and Spain.

The wildfire, which ignited Wednesday north of the Arcachon Bay, has consumed at least 19,000 hectares and destroyed about 100 buildings. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu stated that the fires have reached an "unprecedented" level, deploying over 1,000 military personnel to aid firefighting efforts. He noted the fire's "convective" nature, generating its own winds and capable of rapid, unpredictable shifts.

In the neighboring Landes department, another significant fire has burned over 3,000 hectares, also prompting preventive evacuations. Lecornu announced the deployment of 1.5 million FFP2 masks to protect response teams. The scale of the crisis has led to over 141,000 people being evacuated across both departments.

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The fires which are hitting our country have reached a level that has never been seen before.