LEGE-CAP FERRET – A fast-moving wildfire in southwest France prompted the overnight evacuation of 55,000 people on Sunday, raising the number ordered from their homes to 220,000 in the Gironde region alone as flames pushed closer to Bordeaux, the famed wine-region city.
Officials in Gironde, the region that includes Bordeaux, ordered residents in five additional communities southwest of the historic city to leave during the night.
Strong, gusting winds fanned the blaze after dark, helping it advance more rapidly as firefighters continued battling a fire that authorities said has been burning out of control since midweek.
The Gironde prefect also ordered part of a major highway running southwest from Bordeaux to be shut down as the emergency intensified.
Bordeaux’s mayor warned that the wildfire “is still at the gates of the metropolitan area,” after it moved to within roughly 15 kilometers (9 miles) of the city at its nearest point.
Farther south, a second wildfire in the Landes region has forced 30,000 people to evacuate this week, bringing the total number displaced by the fires to more than 250,000.
Across the border in Spain, officials have evacuated 70,000 people this week as wildfires burned west of Madrid.
