Latest news with #AgnèsPannier-Runacher
News18
3 days ago
- Climate
- News18
French firefighters battle largest wildfire since 1949
Paris [France], August 7 (ANI): Firefighters in France are battling the country's biggest wildfire in nearly eight decades for a third consecutive day, as more than 16,000 hectares have already been burned in the southern region of Aude, France 24 person has died, three are reported missing, and two others–including a firefighter–are in critical to France 24, the wildfire, which began on Tuesday around 100 km from the Spanish border near the Mediterranean Sea, has spread rapidly and remains uncontrolled. 'As of now, the fire has not been brought under control," Christophe Magny, one of the officials leading the firefighting operation, told BFM TV. He added, 'I hope the blaze could be contained later in the day."Drone visuals shared by Reuters TV and cited by France 24 show vast stretches of charred forest and heavy smoke rising across the region. The affected area is now one-and-a-half times the size of Paris, making it the largest wildfire in France since 1949, officials confirmed to France speaking to France Info radio, Environment Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher noted that the blaze is now progressing more slowly. 'The fire is now advancing more slowly," she 24 also reported that the country's weather office has issued a fresh warning for a new heatwave expected to begin Friday in other parts of southern France, potentially lasting several month, a wildfire that reached the southern port city of Marseille left around 300 people injured, further underlining the growing wildfire risk across southern Europe this scientists continue to warn that rising global temperatures are contributing to the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires across Europe. According to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service, Europe is warming at twice the global average since the 1980s. (ANI)
Euronews
3 days ago
- Climate
- Euronews
Climate change drove ‘unprecedented' wildfire in France, officials say
A wildfire burning in the south of France has grown to become the country's biggest since 1949. It has claimed one life and burned more than 16,000 hectares - an area one and a half times the size of Paris - in the south of France. French Prime Minister François Bayrou described it as a 'catastrophe of unprecedented scale'. The blaze, which began on Tuesday afternoon near the village of Ribaute in the Aude region near the border with Spain and not far from the Mediterranean Sea, has been raging for three days. In the first 12 hours of the fire, it spread across 11,000 hectares of land - an area roughly equivalent to the size of Paris. Within 24 hours, it had destroyed the same amount of land as wildfires usually burn across France in a year. Now it has burned more than 16,000 hectares to become the biggest fire since the creation of France's national fire database in 2006, the national emergency management service has said. Images shared by Météo-France show that the smoke plume from the blaze is visible from space. France's largest fire in over 70 years The fire spread quickly due to strong winds, dry vegetation and hot summer weather, officials have said. 'The night was cooler, so the fire is spreading more slowly but it remains the most significant fire France has seen since 1949,' France's minister for ecological transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, told France Info radio. 'It is a fire that is clearly a consequence of climate change and drought in this region.' Michael Sabot, deputy director of the Aude fire department, told France's BFM-TV that 'unfavourable weather conditions' meant the blaze 'certainly' wouldn't be brought under control on Thursday. Forecast high temperatures and strong, more than 40km per hour winds would further dry out vegetation, he said. After a cooler start to the week, Météo-France has forecast intensifying heat in the south with temperatures of up to 40°C and a high risk of wildfires. While current weather conditions play a role, prolonged dry weather has also increased the fire risk. Mediterranean regions of the country are experiencing significant drought, meaning vegetation and trees are highly susceptible to fires, Météo-France says. It adds that recently, even tall trees have been affected, allowing for very intense fires - a sign of just how severe this drought is. The Aude region in particular has been facing water use restrictions due to a 'drought crisis' since 1 August, with a lack of rainfall in recent months playing 'a major role in the spreading of the fire', according to the environment ministry. It adds that in the neighbouring Pyrénées-Orientales, rainfall has reduced by around 60 per cent since 2022. An investigation into the exact cause of the fire is ongoing. Is climate change fuelling wildfires in the Mediterranean? This year has so far brought an extremely active and damaging fire season in Europe. Monitoring from the European Forest Fire Information System shows that wildfires have burned 353,862 hectares of land since the beginning of 2025 - more than twice the area burned during the same period last year. Hotspots across the Mediterranean have been scorched this summer, stoked by heatwaves and drought. Southern Europe has seen multiple large fires, with scientists warning that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, making the region more vulnerable to fires. According to European Drought Observatory data, more than half of Europe, including the Mediterranean, experienced the worst drought conditions in the first part of July since monitoring began in 2021. Scientists have warned that climate change is making droughts worse and changing rainfall patterns in Europe. Where regions like the Mediterranean would previously have had a chance to recover, balance or prepare for a lack of water in summer in wetter seasons, they can no longer depend on rainfall in the same way.
Euractiv
4 days ago
- Climate
- Euractiv
South of France engulfed in flame
Over 1500 firefighters are trying to tame a fire of 'exceptional intensity" that began ravaging the southern French department of Aude, next to the city of Narbonne, on Tuesday afternoon. 'The fire in the Aude region has now covered 13000 hectares,' the French energy transition, biodiversity and forest minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher said on X. 'This is comparable to the total area burnt in the whole of France in 2024, and more than twice the area burnt in 2023,' she added. The blaze is 'very active,' the local prefect said early this morning, warning that the fire is evolving 'very rapidly' and that meteorological conditions are unfavourable. It is reported that one person was killed in his house and another person is missing while two civilians and seven firefighters were wounded as of this morning at 5:30 am. About 30 vehicles have burned and 25 houses were touched by the blaze, the prefect said, adding that some 2500 families were without electricity. Road transport is also impacted. Yesterday evening the transport minister Philippe Tabarot asked citizens in the area to avoid non-essential travel, stay vigilant and 'scrupulously respect the instructions given by the local authorities.' The French President Emmanuel Macron urged citizens to 'exercise the utmost caution' and said that 'all of the nation's resources are mobilised.'
NBC News
02-07-2025
- Climate
- NBC News
As Europe swelters in extreme heat, Eiffel Tower closes its top level and a Swiss reactor shuts down
Extreme temperatures soared across Europe on Wednesday as several countries issued heat alerts, with a Swiss power company shutting down one of its reactor units, France partially closing the Eiffel Tower and two people in Spain dying in a heat wave. In Switzerland, energy company Axpo shut down one of the reactor units at its Beznau nuclear power plant because of high water temperature in the River Aare. The plant, which typically takes cooling water from the river for use before returning it, is prevented from doing so by Swiss regulations when temperatures reach 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit) or higher to avoid causing damage to aquatic fauna and flora. 'Due to the high river water temperatures, Axpo has been increasingly reducing the output of the two reactor units at the Beznau nuclear power plant for days,' the company said in a statement Wednesday, adding that one unit was currently operating at 50% capacity. In France, the national weather service Wednesday issued a rare red alert in four regions where the heat wave was expected to last until 9 p.m. local time (3 p.m. ET). In Paris, officials said the Eiffel Tower's top level would remain closed to visitors because of the current heat wave. According to its website, rising temperatures cause the puddled iron of the tower to expand in size and tilt slightly, but without causing any impact to its structural integrity. French Environment Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher said at a news conference Wednesday that firefighters had responded to more than 300 weather-related emergencies. Meanwhile, a wildfire in Spain's Catalonia region killed two people Tuesday, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said. 'My sympathy goes out to all those affected and my gratitude to the emergency services working to extinguish the fire,' Sánchez wrote in a post on X on Wednesday, adding, 'In these months of heightened risk, please let us take extreme precautions.' In a separate post on X, Catalonia's civil protection services said Wednesday that it was still working to extinguish the fire that was ablaze in three different areas and warned of a 'high risk of forest fires' in two more. Spain recorded its hottest June to date with temperatures passing 40 C (104 F) in some of its cities Tuesday. In the United Kingdom, the national weather service said last month's mean temperature of 16.9 C (62°F) was the second warmest June recorded in the country since record keeping began in 1884. Studies have shown that climate change is increasing the frequency, intensity and duration of heat waves around the world. As the world continues to warm, these extremes are expected to compound, according to the World Meteorological Organization. Europe is the world's fastest-warming continent, according to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service, which said the region is heating up at twice the global average speed. On Monday, the United Nation's human rights chief, Volker Turk, said the heat wave underscored the need for climate adaptation by moving away from fossil fuels, the main cause of climate change, according to the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 'Rising temperatures, rising seas, floods, droughts, and wildfires threaten our rights to life, to health, to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and much more,' Turk said. Other European countries also felt the sweltering effects. The Italian Health Ministry issued heat wave red alerts for 16 cities, including Rome and Milan. In 13 regions, including Lombardy and Emilia, people were advised not to venture outdoors for work during the hottest periods of the day. Two people in the country died from separate heat-related causes, including a 47-year-old working on a construction site near Bologna. In Turkey, wildfires burned for a second day and more than 50,000 people were evacuated by rescuers Wednesday, according to the AFAD emergency management authority. The blistering temperatures were caused by a 'heat dome,' a high-pressure system that stalled over western Europe, trapping hot air from northern Africa over the region — akin to a lid on a pot of boiling water. Heat domes can linger for days or weeks, driving up heat and humidity for extended periods of time.
Local France
02-07-2025
- Climate
- Local France
Red weather warnings lifted as French heatwave reaches peak
Central France and the greater Paris region have been under a rare red level heatwave alert - signifying a danger to life - as soaring temperatures gripped Europe. However the French forecaster Météo France expects the heatwave to peak on Wednesday, lifting weather warnings for some parts of the country. Just four départements - Aube, Cher, Loiret and Yonne - remain on red alert on Wednesday, while the Paris region drops back down to an orange level alert. Météo France's map of heatwave warnings Warnings have been lifted from the west and south-west of France, with the heat gradually moving off to the east. Advertisement By Thursday temperatures are expected to have dropped back to seasonal norms, with alerts lifted across the whole of northern France. Environment minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher said that at least two deaths have been linked to extreme temperatures in recent days, while 300 people have received emergency treatment for heat-related health problems. Full figures on excess deaths will not be available until later in the summer. Tuesday saw extremely high temperatures across the country - 41.3C in Nîmes, 39.3C inToulouse, 40C in Le Vigeant, Vienne and 41.2C in Châteaumeillant, Cher - although none of the records set in the 2019 heatwave were toppled. Paris saw a sizzling night with temperatures still at 36C by 10pm. Screenshot of the 10pm temperature in Paris and surrounding region. Meteo France Across the country schools closed and local authorities activated emergency heatwave plans. The Golfe nuclear reactor in south-west France was shut down because the neighbouring River Garonne was too hot to cool the reactor - it is not expected to start up again until Sunday - while two other nuclear reactors reduced their capacity because of the heat.
