Spain declares emergency as fires force thousands of evacuations in France

NAVALUENGA, Spain/LEGE-CAP-FERRET, France — Tens of thousands of people fled wildfires in southwest France by car and ​boat on Friday and Spain declared a national emergency as huge blazes merged outside Madrid and searing heat left tinder-dry conditions across Europe.French authorities ordered the total evacuation of the ‌Cap Ferret peninsula, a tourism hotspot on the Atlantic Coast.Two fires came together into one outside Madrid, and a third was on the verge of joining them, government officials said.Both countries sought help from the European Union as the blazes strained firefighting and other emergency services.

The national emergency – the first of ever issued over a wildfire in Spain – opened up federal funding to tackle the crisis.“This is the worst wildfire in our region’s history,” Madrid’s regional leader Isabel ​Diaz Ayuso said after telling reporters the fires had merged.“It’s the perfect storm of very high temperatures and ceaseless winds that aren’t letting up.In France, authorities sent ​boats to help the evacuation and a total of around 63,000 people were told to get out, officials said.

Close by, in the town of ⁠Biscarrosse, another large fire threatened homes.“From our home, we had a view of the fires … We could see the clouds becoming darker and darker,” said Yoan Urien, who left late on Thursday ​after police told everyone in his neighbourhood to leave.“I was able to find somewhere to take shelter with my pets, but … it’s quite a shock,” the 26-year-old told Reuters.A fire that began in Saumos, ​north of Cap Ferret, is threatening to cut off the only road out of the peninsula and is the largest so far this season in France, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told local television.It has torn through 10,000 hectares (24,700 acres) of forest and burned 80 homes, completely destroying about 50 of them, he said.In Spain, more than 19,000 people were ordered to evacuate from towns in the mountains we...