Bordeaux, France. France has requested assistance through the European Union’s civil protection mechanism as a major wildfire near the Atlantic coast continued to create an extremely tense situation, President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday.
More than 10,000 people were evacuated overnight as the fire spread through at least 2,400 hectares of land west of Bordeaux, officials said on Thursday.
European support
Macron said France would receive reinforcements including two Croatian Canadair aircraft, two Portuguese Air Tractor planes, and two heavy Black Hawk helicopters from the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
“The situation remains extremely tense with the fires hitting our country, particularly in Gironde,” Macron wrote on X.