British travellers arriving in Bordeaux on Monday braved the smoke as an “unprecedented” wildfire continued to sweep through southwest France, forcing more than 200,000 people to evacuate.
Firefighters were in a race against time to contain the blaze as it came within nine miles from entry points to the main metropolitan area, with a looming heatwave threatening to exacerbate the spread.
Steve Bray, arriving from London Gatwick, told The Independent that he and his partner, Laura Slade, were spending a couple of nights in the city before heading to wedding in the south.
“Our government didn’t say anything, the French government didn’t say anything, the flights didn’t say anything and the hotel didn’t say anything,” he said.
They assessed that “the French authorities are on top of it and if it was ‘bad bad bad’, then we wouldn’t have been allowed to fly in the first place”.
“It’s all good. Wasn’t put off at all,” he said, adding: “Overall, can’t complain. We’re on holiday, so – haven’t got work tomorrow!”
The British Airways flight heading to Bordeaux from Gatwick on Monday afternoon was held on the tarmac for nearly three hours due to the fires, waiting for a signal on availability to land.
Passengers aboard the mostly-filled flight, handed water and snacks by patient staff for the inconvenience, were travelling home, while others said they were still going on holiday.
Vicko Parian, also holidaying in the region for a couple of days, said: “We were a bit nervous about [the fires] but then, the hotel was booked and we couldn’t get a refund so we thought … If worst comes to worst we can always get a train to Paris and then get a Eurostar.”
James Massip, arriving from Luton, said he spent around half an hour waiting before takeoff.
“I live here so I know a few people so to be honest, I’ve just been watching the news,” he said.
Mr Massip said he had been “a little bit nervous”, but “more nervous about the airport shutting” and not being able to get home.
Julien Dijols, who lives north of Bordeaux, said he was returning from holiday in the UK on Monday evening.
He said he lived far from the wildfires and was “not really concerned” about the fires personally. He said they had checked on their flights to make sure they would be able to get home.
There was a smell of smoke in the air at Bordeaux airport on Monday night, and a hotel was providing water and face masks to guests.
The British Foreign Office currently advises people in affected areas, or planning to travel to them, to “follow instructions and updates from local authorities and emergency services at all times”.
Travellers are advised to call 112 if in need of emergency help, and to check with their accommodation or travel provider before travelling.
For information on the wildfires in the south-west a public information line is open from 09:00 to 17:00, +33 (0)9 70 80 90 40 (select option 1 for Gironde, option 2 for Landes).
More than 220,000 people, including tourists and residents, have been evacuated from areas near Bordeaux since unprecedented fires took hold near the Atlantic coast last week.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the fire had not spread overnight but the danger had not passed.
“It isn’t contained. I absolutely do not want to sound reassuring. That is not my intention. We must remain very focused and very determined,” he said.
Mr Nuñez said the fire has burned through 40,000 hectares of land already – nearly twice the area burned by wildfires in the Gironde region in 2022.
Mathilde Sauveroche, a resident of Bordeaux, told The Independent that the fire had given her flashbacks of those of four years ago, until it became clear that the situation now was much worse.
“On Friday, we started to smell smoke from Bordeaux. By Friday evening the air was unbreathable: itchy throat, eyes stinging,” she said.
“In Cenon on Friday, we also had a tire workshop that burned down a few streets from my house, so the smell was atrocious.”
She described fleeing the city with her husband over the weekend in search of clean air, before returning this week to work at a daycare.
“The drive back was apocalyptic,” she said. “We left under a blue sky and drove through a massive orange-grey cloud. We had stocked up on FFP2 masks to be able to breathe normally. Bordeaux was covered in it.”
Ms Sauveroche, who works with children, said they have been instructed not to go outside or open windows until the air quality improves.
“We do talk to the kids about the fires so they know what’s going on. They can sense the general panic,” she said, adding that they are now asking families to donate baby products where possible.
“What is happening was predicted by scientists so many years ago yet our politicians ignored it. With the French presidential elections coming next year it’s even more important people realise the impact it’s having on citizens lives.”
Temperatures dipped to 32C on Monday, giving firefighters a brief window to try to bring the fire under control. France’s weather office warned that temperatures could rise to 37C later in the week as the heatwave returns.
Eighty firefighters had been injured tackling the blaze, according to local officials. The fires have also forced the evacuation of the entire Cap-Ferret peninsula and several suburbs outside of Bordeaux.
Overnight into Sunday, some 55,000 people were evacuated from villages to the south of the city. Many have been evacuated to the Exhibition Centre in Bordeaux, locals said.
Jerome Steffe, mayor of Cestas, a suburb south of Bordeaux, described the blaze as “a fire of a size never seen before”.
French economy minister Roland Lescure told reporters on Monday that more than 13,000 businesses have had to evacuate their premises due to the wildfires so far.
The Independent contacted British Airways for comment outside of normal working hours
