French President Emmanuel Macron has thanked Greece alongside four other European nations for assisting them to battle the wildfires currently ravaging France.
In a tweet posted on Thursday, President Macron wrote: “Germany, Greece, Poland, and in the next few hours Romania and Austria: our partners are coming to the aid of France in the face of the fires. Thanks to them. European solidarity is at work!”
L’Allemagne, la Grèce, la Pologne, et dans les prochaines heures la Roumanie et l’Autriche : nos partenaires viennent en aide à la France face aux incendies. Merci à eux. La solidarité européenne est à l’œuvre !
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) August 11, 2022
Greece’s assistance comes as France, not dissimilar to the rest of Europe, has been struggling through successive heatwaves and its worst drought on record. Presently, dozens of wildfires are ablaze across the country, including at least eight categorised as “major”.
Overnight wildfires tore through the southwestern region of Gironde, where homes were destroyed and 10,000 residents were evacuated, Reuters reported.
Skies darkened by the smoke billowing from forest fires were seen across France's Gironde region as massive wildfires continued to rage. The fires have razed about 6,200 hectares, and have now crossed in the neighboring Landes region https://t.co/ahyVz6SO8N pic.twitter.com/RvZGw4LIgE
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 11, 2022
Destroying an estimated 6,200 hectares, the Gironde fires have crossed into the neighbouring Landes region.
According to data from the European Forest Fire Information System, over 57,000 hectares have burned so far in France this year, nearly six times the full year average for 2006-2021.
