Overview
- Fire crews have held the Gironde blaze inside its perimeter and began allowing large numbers of evacuees to return, but the fire remains active in sectors with buried hot spots and has not been declared fully fixed.
- On Saturday, authorities permitted about 198,000 people to go home in southwest France while keeping sensitive areas such as the Cap Ferret peninsula evacuated because nearby hot spots could re-ignite.
- A separate fast-moving fire in the Var department broke out again after gusty winds pushed flames across about 1,000–1,250 hectares in hours, forcing thousands to flee and keeping roughly 1,300 firefighters deployed.
- Gale-force winds produced major new outbreaks in Greece that required sea evacuations of coastal towns and stretched international aerial and ground firefighting resources.
- Countries have sent mutual aid including Australian CH-47D and Bell 412 aircraft and crews, and local communities face heavy property and wildlife losses while experts call for changes to flammable pine forestry and longer-term prevention measures.