BBC South Today presenter Joanna Kent described a harrowing experience of being forced to evacuate her family holiday in the Cap Ferret Peninsula, France, with only 30 minutes' notice due to rapidly spreading wildfires.
Kent, who was vacationing in the popular tourist area known for its pine forests, told BBC Breakfast on Saturday that the situation became alarming on Wednesday when she noticed a "huge plume of smoke rising up into the sky" and ash falling. By Wednesday evening, she described seeing "a wall of orange flame and an apocalyptic scene flaring up with every gust of the wind."
The dry conditions in the region have contributed to the high risk of forest fires. Kent noted that while fires are a known risk in the area, the scale of the current blaze was unprecedented for that specific location. She recalled a "pretty devastating fire" in 2022 that destroyed campsites, but the current situation presented a more immediate threat.
"We're well away from it now, we've relocated to the Loire Valley," Kent said, adding that her 10-year-old son was frightened by the situation. The evacuation order provided a narrow window for packing. "Luckily for us, it happened sort of just before lunchtime the following day. So it was a bit of a better time to get that sort of 30 minutes to pack your bags and go," she explained.
Kent and her family were staying in accommodation, which simplified their departure compared to campers scrambling to pack up tents and caravans. She observed a mix of calm and panic among other holidaymakers.
More than 40,000 people have been evacuated from the Cap Ferret peninsula and surrounding areas as multiple fires, which began on Tuesday in Saumos, Gironde, have consumed thousands of hectares of land. Authorities deployed boats to assist in evacuating approximately 63,000 people, many of them tourists, from Cap Ferret and Biscarrosse to the south. The area, a popular destination for Parisians and often compared to the Hamptons, has seen luxury villas engulfed by flames.
In Spain, the government declared a state of emergency in the Madrid region, where over 10,000 people were evacuated from areas like Aldea del Fresno. This measure, unprecedented for a wildfire in the region, highlights the severe and widespread nature of the blazes across southwestern Europe.