Europe wildfires latest: Macron says France facing ‘most difficult time since WW2’ as 40C heatwave looms – UK Times

Cyprus’s defence minister has ordered an investigation after National Guard engineers detonated discarded ammunition during the summer fire season, sparking a fast-moving brushfire that scorched around 120 hectares of wild growth.

Defence minister Vassilis Palmas expressed “intense dissatisfaction and strong irritation” that an engineering battalion blew up half a dozen rocket-propelled grenade projectiles at the Kalo Chorio firing range on the island’s southern coast, despite such detonations being prohibited during summer months.

“You understand that I will act with all the severity that is provided for under such circumstances,” Mr Palmas told reporters, adding that the engineers would “logically” have been in contact with National Guard Command before proceeding.

Around 100 firefighters assisted by eight aircraft brought the fire under control after it prompted the precautionary evacuation of two nearby communities. No homes were damaged. A probe report is expected within the next few weeks.

Prince William has released a statement following the wildfires that have taken place across France, Spain and the UK.

The Prince of Wales took to social media on Monday evening to say his thoughts were “with everyone affected” and that he was “deeply grateful to the firefighters, emergency services and volunteers working tirelessly in extraordinarily difficult conditions”.

More than 40 towns have now been evacuated in Spain after its interior ministry announced the evacuation of two locations near Madrid.

People in Santa María de la Alameda and Las Navas del Marqués have been sent alerts urging them to leave the area.

The wildfires have forced hundreds of thousands of people out of their homes in what the EU on Monday called “one of the biggest evacuation operations in Europe.”

France was in “a race against time” to control wildfires before another heatwave this week, fire service spokesperson Eric Brocardi told The Guardian.

Weather forecasters in both countries have said temperatures could reach 40C (104F) again is some parts from Tuesday.

Spain’s state meteorological agency says the heatwave will last until “at least” Sunday, “making firefighting efforts more difficult due to high temperatures [and] locally gusty southerly winds”.

Spain’s interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, said Monday and Tuesday were “absolutely crucial days” before temperatures rise again from Wednesday.

Prime minister Pedro Sánchez warned: “We face difficult hours, complex hours” ahead.

Experts have warned that the blaze raging in France and Spain has been driven by a “fire cloud”, which occurs when a wildfire generates its own unique weather system.

Known technically as pyrocumulonimbus, or “pyroCB” clouds, “fire clouds” are a unique phenomenon where a full thunderstorm forms within a fire plume.

They begin when intense fires release enormous amounts of heat and energy, driving huge amounts of hot air, smoke, and ash rapidly upward.

As this plume reaches high altitudes, low atmospheric pressure causes the rising air to expand and cool.

This rapid drop in temperature forces the moisture within the plume to condense into massive mushroom-shaped storm clouds.

Dubbed the “fire-breathing dragon of clouds” by NASA, these clouds can generate catastrophic conditions that accelerate the spread of further wildfires.

The Independent’s James C. Reynolds reports from Bordeaux:

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.

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!”

As millions are affected by uncontrollable wildfires raging across Europe, and Britain braces for its fourth heatwave of the year, it is time we all accepted the evidence of our own eyes: