Hundreds of holidaymakers were woken in the early hours of the morning as hotels on the outskirts of Bordeaux were forced to evacuate guests due to a raging wildfire. Families staying at the Holiday Inn in Mérignac, near Bordeaux Airport, were given a 3:30 a.m. wake-up call.
Hotel staff informed guests that smoke from fires raging 20 miles away in the Cap Ferret peninsula meant the hotel had to close. Guests, including families with young children, were asked to pay their bills before leaving the area. Among them were Martin and Nicola Smith from Jersey, who were holidaying with six relatives. They had arrived at the hotel the previous evening after a five-hour drive.
"It's not great to be honest but what can you do? I think I'd rather know if there's a risk than not," said Martin Smith, 55. He added that hotel staff had assured them they were safe when they checked in on Friday night. "But apparently everywhere is being evacuated because of all the smoke drifting across to Bordeaux from the fire." He noted that a haze and the smell of smoke were noticeable upon their arrival.
The family, traveling in two cars with plans to drive to a villa in Aude, near the Pyrenees, were uncertain of their immediate plans but hoped their holiday would not be interrupted once they reached their destination, which is away from the affected fire and smoke areas. Nicola Smith, 49, described the evacuation as a "shock to the system" but acknowledged receiving alerts on her phone throughout the night from local French authorities warning about evacuations in nearby areas. Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport remained operational, though an Air France employee reported that the airport was short-staffed because many employees lived in evacuated zones. While flights were operating normally, the situation near the airport was described as potentially changeable.
More than 40,000 people have fled Cap Ferret in recent days as the wildfire has consumed 10,000 hectares of forest, destroying luxury villas. Mass evacuations by land and sea have been underway since Wednesday.
In Spain, the government declared a state of emergency in the Madrid region, where over 10,000 people have been evacuated. Alert messages were sent to residents in Aldea del Fresno, ordering them to leave. This is the first time such a measure has been taken due to a wildfire in the region. Fires in southwestern France and Spain have led to an estimated 200,000 people being evacuated overall as the blazes become "out of control."
The fire near Madrid is reportedly threatening a communications complex used by NASA and the European Space Agency. Exactly 25,000 people have been evacuated from the Madrid region, with an additional 20,000 placed in lockdown, according to Madrid officials. In France, about 141,000 people fled their homes in Gironde and Landes, while 60,000 were forced to evacuate in Spain.
Authorities have reported dozens of injured firefighters but no deaths in either country. The Madrid regional government's emergency management chief stated the blaze near the Spanish capital was "at its peak" and beyond the capacity of firefighters to control. Two major fires near Madrid merged, burning through approximately 11.5 square miles of land by Friday afternoon. Another fire in Avila, northwest of Madrid, destroyed about 34 square miles and caused 1,500 people to flee. The fires are being exacerbated by a heatwave, with temperatures expected to reach highs of 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) in parts of Spain.