Record Heatwave Fuels Catastrophic Wildfires Across Multiple European Nations

Firefighters across Europe battled multiple blazes Friday as a new wave of record-breaking heat baked the continent, with parched landscapes complicating efforts. In France, a fire raced through woodlands overnight in the Landes region on the southwest coast, forcing more than 500 people to evacuate the town of Luglon, the regional administration said. Hundreds of firefighters were deployed to the area.

The French fires are among several scorching forests this week, including in normally cooler and wetter regions in the north and Brittany. A historic fire near Bordeaux last month pushed a quarter of a million people from their homes. France is experiencing its driest year ever, according to officials.

In the U.K., firefighters spent Friday tackling fires across the West Midlands after the country recorded its hottest day of the year on Thursday. The blazes led to thousands of emergency calls and forced people to flee burning homes, with 19 people hospitalized, the ambulance service said. In Stourbridge, where a huge blaze started Thursday, TV footage showed homes consumed by flames, with 20 to 30 houses completely destroyed, according to local lawmaker Cat Eccles.

In Germany, efforts to contain a wildfire were complicated by unexploded World War II munitions. In Croatia, shifting winds spread flames deeper into a coastal suburb, forcing more than 1,000 people to flee.

The historic temperatures are linked to human-caused climate change, hitting countries more adapted to long cold seasons and ill-equipped for such heat, with limited air conditioning. Some 1,017 wildfires have been recorded in England and Wales this year, according to the National Fire Chiefs Council. The Met Office recorded 38.1C (100.6F) in west London on Thursday, the hottest day of the year. While temperatures cooled slightly on Friday, many parts of the country have seen little to no rain for weeks.