'It could have been tragic': Irish tourists flee wildfires in France
Images taken from a campsite in the Pyrénées-Orientales region in the south of France, with a number of Cork and Irish families caught up in evacuations as firefighters worked around the clock to quench wildfires engulfing the region.
Dozens of Irish families are among thousands of holidaymakers caught up in raging wildfires that have razed parts of France's famed Mediterranean coast.
Up to 3,000 holidaymakers were evacuated from campsites in recent days near Argelès-sur-Mer in the southeast of France near to the Spanish border.
The area is a perennial favourite of Irish tourists every summer, with a range of campsites hosting generations of families.
Humphrey and Marie Moynihan from Ballinlough in Cork described the worry for families as the wildfires approached.
Their campsite was spared but Marie said driving around the area in the aftermath was surreal and almost apocalyptic as campsites were razed to the ground.
Hundreds of firefighters remain in situ after quelling the worst of the blaze in the region, which has seen no rain for a year, leaving the ground ripe for fire to burn, according to the Moynihans.
Daughter Audrey Cummins said: "Only for the incredible bravery of the firefighters, it could have been tragic. They were amazing."
The fire in the south of France burned through 500 hectares of land before the blaze was brought under control on Tuesday. The French environment minister said climate change exacerbated conditions of drought that fed the fire.
No residents or tourists were injured in the fire, French authorities said.
"Drought and fire are two sides of the same coin: climate change," Christophe Bechu, minister of the ecological transition, said in a tweet during a visit to site of the fire in the Pyrenees-Orientales region near the Spanish border.
He added that this summer has seen fewer fires than last year, when 70,000 hectares were burnt to cinders, but it was necessary to be "humble" as summer was not over.
Five regions in the east of the country are currently on "high alert" for heatwaves, according to the French weather authority Meteo France website.
It comes as five villages on the island of Tenerife were evacuated as wildfires cast a surreal light over the city of Santa Cruz, the island’s capital.
The fire, which started on Tuesday night in the area of Monte de Arafo in the north east, had spread over 800 hectares by Wednesday afternoon. Five villages were evacuated, and access was cut off to the forest surrounding the Mount Teide volcano.
Meanwhile, Canadian officials ordered the evacuation of the Northwest Territories' capital of Yellowknife and several smaller communities on Wednesday as a massive wildfire threatened the town of Hay River overnight.
Teams were working to evacuate Hay River, a community of some 3,000 on Great Slave Lake, by bus or plane on Wednesday night as the fire approached.
It comes as more than 110 people died following a wildfire in Hawaii last week. The grassland fire on August 8 raced down the base of a volcano sloping into the tourist resort town of Lahaina, destroying or damaging some 2,200 buildings.
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