{"text":[[{"start":12.5,"text":"France and Spain ordered the evacuation of roughly 150,000 people from areas threatened by spreading wildfires, the latest crisis in a summer of extreme heatwaves. "}],[{"start":23.5,"text":"The French interior ministry on Friday said residents and tourists in the seaside resort of Cap Ferret near Bordeaux had been asked to leave the peninsula both by road and by emergency ferries. Several fires have been raging in the forests in the Gironde region around Bordeaux this week, with more than 1,000 firefighters deployed to seek to limit the damage."}],[{"start":44.45,"text":"France’s interior minister Laurent Nuñez said on Friday evening that winds had begun pushing the fires from the coast eastward towards Bordeaux, forcing authorities to revise plans. Military reinforcements were being sent to help civilian firefighters and police. "}],[{"start":59.650000000000006,"text":"“We are facing an unprecedented phenomenon,” he told TF1 news channel, adding that the fire was not under control and was feeding itself. The city itself was not yet threatened, Nuñez said, but some towns in the path of the flames would likely be evacuated overnight."}],[{"start":77.4,"text":"Some 14,000 hectares of forest have burned in the Gironde region, according to authorities, which amounts to an area about one-third larger than the city of Paris. Firefighters were also battling separate blazes in the Landes and Var regions, stretching resources further."}],[{"start":94.2,"text":"Spain and France have been the epicentre of this year’s European wildfire season, which has been worsened by successive heatwaves that dried out vegetation, making it easier for blazes to start and spread. "}],[{"start":106.4,"text":"French President Emmanuel Macron said that, faced with a situation of “extreme tension”, he had requested aid from the EU, adding that Croatia, Portugal and other countries would send aircraft to help fight the fires. "}],[{"start":120.35000000000001,"text":"“This concrete, rapid and operational support is precious during this ordeal,” he wrote on X."}],[{"start":127.25000000000001,"text":"In Spain, the government declared a national emergency as wildfires burned out of control in areas close to Madrid, forcing 63,000 people to be evacuated or confined to their homes."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":139.75,"text":"Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called the situation “dramatic” as the flames ripped through thousands of hectares in municipalities several dozen kilometres to the west of the Spanish capital."}],[{"start":152.5,"text":"By Friday afternoon, two separate wildfires had spread so far that they merged into a single blaze."}],[{"start":159.2,"text":"Fernando Grande-Marlaska, Spain’s interior minister, said the top priority was to stop them from combining with a third ongoing blaze to prevent another increase in the intensity of the flames."}],[{"start":171.1,"text":"Isabel Díaz Ayuso, president of the Madrid region, which includes rural towns scattered around the capital, called the fires the worst in the area’s history."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":180.54999999999998,"text":"The emergency services warned that high winds would complicate efforts to tame the blazes. More than 270 firefighters, forest rangers and members of the military’s emergency unit have been deployed to the region. No deaths or injuries have been reported. "}],[{"start":195.29999999999998,"text":"Last month was the hottest June on record for western Europe, in a region that is warming at twice the global average as a result of climate change. France has been particularly hard hit with more than 50,000 hectares burned to date, which was roughly three times more than the same period last year, according to the interior ministry."}],[{"start":214.2,"text":"Two French firefighters died this week fighting another blaze near Bordeaux."}],[{"start":220.29999999999998,"text":"Wildfires have also broken out across Europe from the UK to Norway, with especially severe blazes in Spain that killed at least 13 people earlier this month."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":230.64999999999998,"text":"Where climate change meets business, markets and politics. Explore the FT’s coverage here."}],[{"start":236.7,"text":"Are you curious about the FT’s environmental sustainability commitments? Find out more about our science-based targets here"}],[{"start":252,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1784930943_7278.mp3"}