A wildfire in France’s southwestern Gironde region has burned 42,000 hectares, generating a massive “fire cloud” that has accelerated the spread of the flames and made them difficult to control. French President Emmanuel Macron chaired an emergency cabinet meeting on Monday morning to discuss the crisis.
In Spain, 75,000 people have been evacuated from areas around Madrid, Ávila, Toledo, and Castellón in eastern Valencia as wildfires spread.
In Italy, wildfires broke out in the southern Puglia region on Sunday, forcing more than 400 tourists and residents to be evacuated by sea from the coastal town of Peschici.
Experts warn that megafires could become increasingly common as climate change intensifies. Such fires release enormous amounts of energy and can generate their own winds, making their spread difficult to predict and almost impossible to control through direct firefighting.
