French wildfire ordeal described as 'terrifying' by author Sophie Morris

Author and food advocate Sophie Morris described her experience of being caught in a wildfire in southern France as "terrifying." The blaze near Biscarrosse forced 23,000 people to evacuate.

Morris was at the Mayotte Vacances campsite with her family when the fire broke out. She noticed a large cloud of black smoke while at a nearby lake beach. "I just looked up from the water and you could just see a big black smoke," she said.

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I just looked up from the water and you could just see a big black smoke

Campsite staff initially told guests it was a small vehicle fire. However, the smoke worsened, and the fire spread into the surrounding forest. "It was originally a van that went on fire on the side of the road... so I guess it just got the ground and then just spread into the forest and it just spread so quickly," Morris explained.

By evening, firefighting planes were dropping water on the blaze. "There were planes flying really low to the ground... and they were just dropping water, so we were watching all this," she said. Guests were told to stay put, but the proximity of the fire was frightening. "It was very scary because it seemed so close with the amount of smoke."

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It was originally a van that went on fire on the side of the road ... so I guess it just got the ground and then just spread into the forest and it just spread so quickly.

At around 3 a.m., alarms and sirens woke the family. "I'll never forget that noise... just the sirens; it was just like: 'I can't believe this is actually happening'," Morris recalled. Her seven-year-old son was "absolutely terrified" as they prepared to evacuate.

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There were planes flying really low to the ground... and they were just dropping water, so we were watching all this.

Initially, guests were told to leave on foot towards a lake. The family opted to leave by car, joining lines of vehicles. "There was like lines of cars and we were thinking 'what do we do? Do we go on our cars? Do we go on foot?', so we just decided ‘let's get in the car’," she said. This decision brought relief, as those without cars had to wait by the lake. The journey, normally 10 minutes, took nearly two hours due to slow-moving traffic. "You could see the flames, we were literally sitting in standstill traffic looking at the flames through the forest and you could actually see ash falling around the car, it looked like snow in the headlights."

Local people assisted evacuees, with one café offering free tea and coffee.

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It was very scary because it seemed so close with the amount of smoke.