00:00Two firefighters died on Tuesday during an intervention against a building fire that
00:04broke out near Bordeaux Airport. According to the airport management, the fire first broke out in a
00:09green area outside the grounds near the parking lot. The flames caused major air traffic disruption,
00:15average delays of 65 minutes and the suspension of landings. The incident comes as wildfires
00:21have burned more than 42,000 hectares of land in France by mid-July 2026, surpassing the
00:27previous record set in 2022. Wildfires during the first two weeks of July alone burned nearly 50,000
00:34hectares, hitting the Fontainebleu forest near Paris as well as southern France and Corsica.
00:40As you can see from the smoke behind me, firefighters are continuing to battle wildfires across southern
00:47France today and it comes as a fresh outbreak of fires have taken place here in Provence and also
00:53in the Côte d'Azur. Here in Cotignac we've been issued evacuation orders for part of the village and
01:00that follows new fires in the areas of La Tourne, Ponte Vides and down in Les Arques. Overhead we're
01:08seeing helicopters as well as planes carrying those water buckets trying to assist putting out those
01:15fires and this also comes as temperatures continue to rise right across Europe.
01:21Meanwhile in Spain the La Miela fire in Guadalajara is improving after burning nearly 30,000 hectares
01:28though major fires in Ejulve and Brieva remain active. In Almeria, recovery work has begun after
01:35the Los Gallardos fire killed 13 people and burned more than 7,000 hectares. Violent fires also raged in
01:42Sicily near Castronovo di Sicilia where blazes have flared up once again. Planes and helicopters dump
01:49water to take control of the situation. Across the wider region, Ephesus recorded that nearly 200,000
01:58hectares had burned across the European Union by mid-July 2026 driven by a severe drought following
02:05a historic June heat wave.
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