France wildfire: Ukrainian firefighters join battle

Ukrainian firefighters joined operations Monday to fully extinguish a wildfire in France's Gironde region after a 52-hour drive, in what a local fire service official said was their first deployment in the country.

Seventy firefighters arrived Sunday in a convoy of 15 vehicles, including 10 fire engines, after travelling through Ukraine, Poland, Germany and France to help French crews west of Bordeaux.

The wildfire has burned 42,000 hectares since it broke out on July 22. On Monday, the Ukrainian firefighters worked in Le Temple, west of Bordeaux, to douse smoking hotspots along the boundary between burned and unburned forest and prevent the fire from reigniting.

Ukraine offered its help through the European Union civil protection mechanism, in which 10 non-EU countries also participate.

Khrystyna Pertsovych, spokeswoman for the Ukrainian emergency response team, said Ukraine wanted to help despite the war at home. “When Ukraine needed help, France stood by us,” she said.

Thomas Mimiague, communications officer for the Gironde department fire and rescue service, said it was the first time Ukrainian firefighters had deployed in France.

The fires in France and Spain spread quickly in dry conditions worsened by successive heatwaves since May. Scientists from the World Weather Attribution group said in a recent study that the current European drought was made more severe by human-caused climate change.