Sawt Falasteen - 'Difficult night' as France, Spain fires intensify again

Earlier Saturday, officials in both countries suggested the intensity of some of the blazes had lessened.

But by evening they were ordering more sweeping evacuations as the blaze in the Gironde region of southwestern France, which includes the popular region of Bordeaux, regained intensity.

The fire had created "its own winds -- complete with whirlwinds", firefighter Captain Nicolas Braz said, describing it as "erratic and unmanageable".

It is set to be another "difficult night," he said.

Spanish authorities meanwhile ordered new evacuations near Toledo, southwest of Madrid, as they, too, braced for bad news.

"Today we are rather more pessimistic than we were yesterday," Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told reporters. "The weather conditions have not helped at all," he added.

"The night is not going to be very positive or very friendly to us," he warned, saying that wind gusts were expected to push the fire south.

"The situation is complex."

- 'Catastrophe' -

Overstretched firefighters battling around the clock for days have been unable to contain the infernos, which claimed the lives of two French firefighters near Bordeaux earlier this week.

A separate wildfire near the eastern Spanish city of Valencia killed one person Saturday before firefighters brought it under control.

France initially hustled 197,000 people from areas around popular vacation spot Bordeaux -- one of its biggest-ever peacetime evacuations, though 3,000 were later allowed to return.

A further 55,000 were ordered to leave late Saturday. The total evacuated from Gironde alone topped 200,000, authorities said.

In Spain, where earlier Saturday 60,000 people were evacuated from villages west of Madrid, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the priority was "to save lives".

At least eight municipalities near Toledo were ordered to evacuate later Saturday, though it was unclear how many people that involved.

In the Spanish town of Brunete, west of Madrid, mayor Mar Nicolas told AFP she was "very worried".

"Every year there are fires, but this one has been tremendous," she said. "It is a catastrophe."

- Tinderbox conditions -

The fires in Spain and France advanced quickly because of tinderbox conditions worsened by successive heatwaves the two countries have experienced since May.

Scientists say global warming is increasing droughts and causing weather emergencies to become more extreme and more frequent. Europe is the fastest-warming continent due to climate change.

Both countries were receiving EU help in the form of firefighting aircraft from other European countries.

France has deployed 1,500 soldiers and 1,700 security personnel to help firefighters near Bordeaux, and on Saturday an A400M military transport aircraft joined the fleet of smaller planes already dousing flames.

Dozens of firefighters were deployed from Paris to boost the fight. Prime Minster Sebastien Lecornu said a total of 1,400 firefighters were tackling the blazes.

Local authorities set up emergency shelters in schools and gymnasiums in southwestern France for tourists and residents left wondering what they would return to.

Nuala Kelly, a 75-year-old Irish tourist, said she had never seen anything like this.

"Never, never, never, never, never, and I've travelled all over the world and been in all sorts of situations," she told AFP at Bordeaux's vast exhibition centre now housing thousands of people.

Olivier Stewart, a 38-year-old Frenchman who had to leave the village of Merignac with his wife and young children, said the children were "the most stressed".

"They think the fire is going to burn down the house, but we're coping," he said.

Sunday's final stage of the Tour de France road cycling race has been shortened after the interior ministry said it would need to redeploy officers mobilised for race security to the fires instead.

- 'Record' area burnt -

The massive smoke clouds thrown up by the French and Spanish fires were starting to connect in the atmosphere, according to satellite images from Spain's Aemet weather agency.

Fires currently raging across France have burned nearly 98,000 hectares (242,000 acres) -- a "historic record", Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said.

In the southwest alone, the flames have consumed more than 32,000 hectares -- three times the surface area of Paris -- and destroyed at least 100 buildings, authorities said.

French President Emmanuel Macron insisted Saturday that the country "will rebuild".

Two of the three major wildfires there have merged into one, and are threatening to join up to form a massive inferno just kilometres from the capital.

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H.Darwish--SF-PST