00:00In France, Greece, Spain and beyond, wildfires fueled by extreme heat have forced mass evacuations across Europe.
00:11I've never seen a fire like this.
00:14We're working day and night.
00:16What does life feel like on the front line of this fight?
00:20And what plans is the world's fastest warming continent making for the future?
00:25We need to change our mindset saying that we really need to invest in prevention.
00:28The fires will be more intense and more frequent.
00:34This is France's Gironde region.
00:3742,000 hectares of land here, roughly four times the size of France's capital, Paris, were scorched in a recent
00:44forest fire.
00:45The most difficult the country has faced since World War II, according to authorities.
00:50And even for well-seasoned firefighters we met here, this was something new.
00:55A fire this size? No, I have never seen anything like it in France.
01:03Maître Julien, a marine firefighter from Marseille, is driving us towards some of the worst impacted areas.
01:10He's one of around 3,000 firefighters who were deployed to the region in late July.
01:15Do you see all this? That was already burned, but there's still smoke everywhere.
01:23We absolutely have to extinguish those hot spots, so that fires don't reignite.
01:28If the crowns catch fire, it could be dangerous and difficult to manage.
01:36Julien takes us to meet other marines managing just that.
01:40It's heavy work on a hot day, around 40 degrees Celsius or more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
01:46In the last few days, more than 260 firefighters have been injured in this region, and four have lost their
01:52lives.
01:53It's always on our mind. Safety for our teams and our equipment is always the top priority.
02:02Then the signal comes. They move quickly. Within a couple of minutes, this team is off to their next mission.
02:10There's always adrenaline.
02:13We move too. And before long, there's a clear sign of exactly what firefighters had feared.
02:20We have a problem. The fire moved faster than we expected. It's already spread to that next stretch of forest.
02:28We have to adjust our plan so we can stop it.
02:31As the firefighters head in, medic Laetitia is on standby to deal with the possible fallout.
02:37She says physical injuries aren't the biggest issue our colleagues are facing.
02:43It's the fatigue above all. They're hardly getting any sleep. We keep an eye on morale and talk to them.
02:50That's part of the job.
02:52And it's not just the firefighters.
02:54Across the front lines of this fight, volunteers have been out in force, often without proper training or protected gear.
03:02Some buildings have already burned down. We've saved some of them, but not all.
03:06We're here because we're needed and because we want to help.
03:12I got my family to safety and then came here. We've been working since Saturday. We haven't slept.
03:18My daughter was evacuated when the flames had almost reached her.
03:28Sorry.
03:30Many of these volunteers don't feel properly appreciated.
03:33And their presence points to gaps in readiness here, on the ground and in the air.
03:39The fires have sparked political debate in Europe, with long-standing delays to deliveries of key firefighting aircraft due to
03:48supply chain issues in the spotlight.
03:50In a first, France even loaded up its military megaplanes with flame retardant to support saturated civilian capacities.
03:59This footage shows German teams fighting French fires.
04:03It's just one of the countries which sent equipment and experts through an EU coordination mechanism.
04:08We are no longer capable to face climate change alone in our corner.
04:15You know, we need European solidarity.
04:18We proposed a budget of 10.7 billion, which is an important amount of money, but at the same time
04:26it pays back.
04:27I hope that the states will follow our proposal.
04:30That might be tricky, as already strained national coffers leave some capital sceptical about any EU budget hikes.
04:39The EU is already accused of watering down big green promises as it races to keep up with China and
04:45the US.
04:46And now crisis management officials warn there's more work to do to keep citizens in the know as summers heat
04:52up.
04:53We need to think of informing the population.
04:57We need to think of evacuation plans.
04:59We need to invest in early warning tools.
05:02So all this is something that we are mapping.
05:04I think that is the main challenge, that we need to change our mindset, saying that we really need to
05:08invest in prevention.
05:11Marine firefighter Julien won't be drawn on politics, but he can see a clear trend.
05:19The fires will be more intense and more frequent.
05:24That will affect our daily work.
05:26Our teams will have to adapt.
05:32The blaze near Bordeaux has now been stabilised, a moment of reprieve.
05:37More volunteers at this hastily set up command centre are on hand to make sure firefighters can get a meal
05:43and some rest.
05:46Our families aren't here with us, so we are creating something like a temporary haven, a place where we can
05:52feel comfortable.
05:54That way, it feels at least a little bit more like home.
05:59But it won't be long before firefighters' next shift, here or elsewhere.
06:05Europe's wildfire season is far from over, and 2026 is expected to break more records before the year is out.
06:14The wind is streaming today.
06:14By day, we are the joined in the river, so it would start to create a new life cycle.
06:15The wind is here and the wind is moving forward, and��다.
06:16The wind is moving forward.
06:17We are seeing a new wall as if it's moving forward.
06:17The wind is stepping forward.
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