BORDEAUX: Amid rows of camp beds and stacks of food supplies at a makeshift shelter in Bordeaux, thousands of tourists and locals try to regain their composure after fleeing wildfires sweeping through southwest France. Many are anxious about the fate of their homes, while others have had their holidays abruptly cut short.
Masks are distributed upon request. Smoke still hangs in the air, although it is easier to breathe than the previous evening, when the acrid smell of fire spread across Bordeaux. Hundreds of firefighters have over the past few days been battling blazes in the southwest of France famous for its sand dunes, pine trees and oyster shacks.
Rapidly spreading blazes have forced authorities to evacuate tens of thousands of people from the swanky Cap Ferret peninsula and surrounding villages, in one of the largest evacuation operations ever conducted in France. Most of the evacuees, coming from the Arcachon Bay area and towns near Bordeaux that are now threatened by the fire, arrived during the night. — AFP
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