Forest Fires and El Niño
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How widespread are this summer's European wildfires and which countries are most affected?
Now, Australia, the US, Europe, wildfires are pretty routine during the summer.
But this year, with fires in Ireland and in Scotland, as well as across continental Europe, a state of emergency in Spain, mass evacuations in France, as well as Spain, it feels a bit different. The number and geographic spread is frightening.
The fire here started on the 15th of July, with fire crews from across Wicklow and Dublin dispatched to support the ongoing operation. Units from the National Parks and Wildlife Service across the country, including Mayo, Donegal and Leash, have also been brought in to help. The fire that burned last week has gone really deep into the peat and it's smouldering with huge intensity and huge heat down in there. So it can be decades, if not centuries, to recover something like that. Meanwhile in Tipperary, fire crews are into day six of tackling a wildfire on Shlevenamon Mountain. Rising temperatures overnight saw more hot spots develop, reigniting extinguished flames. It's a definite drop in temperature, which will help us.
However, there is a strong wind and that's going to help oxygenate the fire and develop the fire. So we're working very, very hard at containing those fire lines. Last night, Scottish police declared a major incident after a change in wind conditions accelerated the fire in the Cairngorms National Park, prompting the evacuation of local residents as a precaution. Meanwhile, on mainland Europe, the rapid spread of wildfires is causing devastation and upheaval. Across Sicily, firefighters are tackling numerous individual blazes. A major fire west of the Spanish capital, Madrid, has already forced 70,000 people to leave their homes. And in southwest France, the government has now sent soldiers in to help battle a massive fire, which this morning forced the evacuations of some residents in the suburbs of Bordeaux.
So that's just a brief catalogue of some of the fires affecting Europe. And you wonder, is this year an anomaly, perhaps fuelled by an intense El Nino, or is it a portent of regular disasters to come? We'll talk about all of that with Cahal Nolan, climate scientist and founder of Ireland's Weather Channel, in a few moments' time. But first, we're joined by Alain Cobb, Paris-based journalist, to tell us about the situation in France. Alain, good morning. Good morning, Pat. Now, the biggest mass evacuation since the Second World War, it's quite a thing.
Yes, nearly a quarter of a half, a quarter of a million people, sorry, have been evacuated from the southwestern Gironde region with 55,000 new evacuations overnight. Now, 42,000 hectares have been destroyed by fire in that area. And the interior minister said this morning that the conditions remain very unfavourable for The police chief along that western coastline says today is decisive because there's some chance the wind might move in a different direction. But they are they have brought in the army. They have firefighters and they're freeing up security anywhere they can to send them to the area to help try to control those fires.
Now, is this felt nationally, this problem, or is this seen as something that happens in the countryside regularly every year, so not too much to worry about?
No, it is very much being felt nationwide, especially this year, because that fire in Fontainebleau in the Royal Forest, just outside Paris, really brought it home to people that, yes, there can be huge fires in the northern half of the country and also so close to the capital. where there is a concentration of police and firefighters just because of the population. And the fact that it got so close and ran for so long and is still going, although it's under control, really reminded people that nowhere is safe because it is usually in the south and southwest. But there are fires in Normandy and in northern France as well, much more easily brought under control. But nonetheless, there's a big feeling of solidarity in the country.
Now, obviously, many of the people who've been evacuated are holidaymakers, and perhaps they'll just return home and forget about this year's holiday.
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