Wildfires Scorch 115,000 Hectares Across France This Year, Interior Minister Says The images coming out of southwest France are apocalyptic: towering plumes of smoke, firefighters battling flames in treacherous terrain, and the eerie glow of wildfires illuminating the night sky.
The scale of the disaster is staggering – over 115,000 hectares burned since the start of the year, forcing more than 220,000 people to evacuate their homes. This fire season is far from ordinary.
France's interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, has described it as "far more than anything we have seen in the past.