‘Ash fell from the sky’: Tourists describe fleeing ‘apocalyptic’ wildfires in France

Hundreds of thousands of residents and holidaymakers in France and Spain have been forced to evacuate Wildfires have forced about 375,000 people to leave their homes in France and Spain. In France, nearly 260,000 have had to flee, while in neighbouring Spain 116,000 have been evacuated as the wildfires continue to wreak havoc across southern Europe. Authorities in France have been battling to contain a huge wildfire near Bordeaux, meanwhile, while Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has warned that Spain and the Iberian peninsula were suffering the effects of the climate emergency. It comes as another heatwave could hit France from Tuesday, with temperatures reaching 40C (104F) in some areas, weather forecasters said. Tourists caught up in the wildfires spoke to us about their experiences. Patrick, 77, was at a beach in Arcachon on the south-west coast of France on Thursday when he noticed the sky getting darker, and a “great billowing pall of black smoke” developing. “It was the beginning of a slightly otherworldly experience,” he said. He and his wife were forced to hitchhike 42 miles (69km) back to Bordeaux, where they were staying on holiday, after all trains were