France Burns at a Scale Not Seen Since 1945.
Emmanuel Macron told emergency responders in Gironde on Monday that France faces its most difficult situation since the Second World War, describing the blaze outside Bordeaux as completely unprecedented. Roughly 160,000 hectares have burned nationwide this year, and the usual August peak of the fire season has not yet arrived.
The scale is hard to absorb. More than 220,000 people have been evacuated from Gironde alone, one of the largest evacuations in modern French history. Around 2,500 firefighters, 1,500 soldiers and 1,200 police are deployed, 88 firefighters have been injured, and 240 homes are gone.
At its closest, the fire came within fifteen kilometres of Bordeaux. Four firefighters have died across France in just over two weeks.
As of Tuesday the main front is stable, with military engineers cutting firebreaks alongside crews. That may not hold. Temperatures near 42 degrees are forecast later this week, and authorities warn the fires could burn for months.
Then there is the part no evacuation figure captures. Ecological Transition Minister Monique Barbut has warned that the damage to wildlife will be catastrophic, and the wildlife photographer Marina Scaglia has spent this season documenting what that looks like on the ground.
She writes that she could not stay silent this year. Thousands of hectares are burning, in every region of France and across the world, and while we count the devastated land, nature is dying. Animals are fleeing. Ecosystems are collapsing. But she has also seen firefighters spraying a doe, and people filling hollows in rocks so animals can drink, and she calls that mobilisation beautiful.
Her request is simple. Leave wildlife alone this year and let them recover. They have no shelter, no food and no time to heal. Let them breathe. These are not numbers. These are lives.
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🔥🇫🇷🦌 As massive #wildfires continue to ravage #France , heartrending images of deer and other #wildlife fleeing flames have propagated across social media.
Groups of volunteers are combing affected areas, searching for survivors to rehabilitate and offering what relief they can ⤵️
@GreytHounds99@BonesNorah We are on the eastern side of England and everything is bone dry haven't had much rain this year plus a dry winter and record temperatures for May, June and July but compared to France and Spain we're getting away with it lightly even Norway are having forest fires 😬
PLEASE RT…..
🚨WITNESS APPEAL – TEIGNMOUTH / SHALDON BEACH 🚨
This took place earlier today (27th July) at Shaldon Beach, Teignmouth, Devon.
A member of the public reports seeing the man in the photo below pick up his dog and throw him against a stone wall multiple times. The witness states he then pinned the dog to the ground and punched him repeatedly, while the woman with him stood by and watched.
According to the witness, this happened because the dog didn’t recall immediately and the man got his jeans wet retrieving him.
If you recognise this man or the woman with him, please get in touch with the OP via the link below. .
😡 Please share — this dog needs to be protected.
https://t.co/hkVcKyI8JB
🚨 CCTV RELEASED AFTER DOGS DUMPED FROM VEHICLE IN WEST YORKSHIRE VILLAGE OF ALTOFTS.
This took place today in the village of #altofts, #normanton, City of #wakefield WF6.
CCTV footage shows the two distressed dogs running after the vehicle as it sped away - a white Citroen van registration PN65 XUU (untaxed and with no MOT).
One dog has been caught but the other is still missing and at serious risk of coming to harm.
If you have any information, please contact police. Information can also be passed anonymously to Crimestoppers.
No animal should ever have to experience that kind of fear or betrayal.
Police need the community’s help to identify those responsible.
🚨 Please share
Video in link.
https://t.co/4Gp0pfnoHv