Paris sends about 100 firefighters to southwest France fires

Around 100 Paris firefighters were being deployed on Saturday to southwest France to help fight wildfires, the head of the Paris Fire Brigade said. Hundreds of firefighters have spent the past three days fighting fires in the southwestern department of Gironde, where the fires are described as particularly intense, and since Thursday near Biscarrosse in the neighbouring department of Landes.

Arnaud de Cacqueray, commander of the Paris Fire Brigade, said the Paris firefighters would mainly work on wildfire suppression. He said 45 Paris firefighters and six vehicles had already been sent to Gironde.

The fires in Gironde and Landes have forced the evacuation of more than 140,000 people and have burned 22,000 hectares, or 54,000 acres, of land. De Cacqueray said he expected the deployment to affect response times in Paris and said people in the capital should contact firefighters only in cases of absolute emergency.

Paris firefighters were also sent to help fight severe wildfires in southwestern France in 2022. De Cacqueray said the latest deployment was nearly three times larger than the 2022 deployment.