UPDATE - Fires in southwest France unstoppable, 17,000 hectares of pine forest destroyed

CHANGES IN HEADLINE, DECK, AND THROUGHOUT STORY

By Shweta Desai

PARIS (AA) - Fires in southwestern France’s Gironde seem unstoppable six days after they began with flames as high as 100 meters engulfing over 17,000 hectares of forest land, according to the latest reports on Monday evening.

Around 12,000 hectares of forest land in Landiras and another 5,000 hectares in La Teste-de-Buch have been destroyed by the two fires raging in Gironde since last Tuesday. The combined area of forest land burnt in the fires is bigger than the area of France's biggest city, Paris.

As the situation continued to deteriorate additional 16,000 evacuations were carried out throughout the day, taking the total number of civilians rescued to 32,300.

The French Association of Zoological Parks (AFdPZ) also announced evacuating over a thousand animals from the Bassin d'Arcachon zoo in La Teste-de-Buch, to prevent them from suffocating in the heavy fire smoke.

The deputy prefect of Langon commune in Gironde, Vincent Ferrier, described a “difficult night” ahead due to strong waves of wind and the high temperatures amid heatwaves, in an interview with the BFMTV news.

Gironde has been placed on heatwave red alert by the weather department, with maximum temperatures expected to reach up to 44 degrees Celsius in some parts.

According to local fire and rescue services, firefighters were struggling to contain flames as high as 100 meters, and the situation is likely to last for a few more days.

A total of 1,700 firefighters are engaged on-site supported by nine water bomber planes, a statement from the prefecture of Gironde said.

In northwest France too, multiple fires were underway. In Brittany, a fire in the Monts d'Arree massif of Finistere destroyed at least 151 hectares, according to a report in France Bleu news. Another fire in Brittany, close to Cotes d'Armor and Ille-et-Vilaine, caused disruption of the train service. In the town of La Hague, in the Manche department of Normandy, a fire that began on Sunday was contained by Monday morning.