France
As France tames wildfire and lets 84,000 evacuees go home, blazes flare across Europe
LEGE-CAP FERRET, France | France gave the go-ahead Thursday for 84,000 evacuees forced out by a monster wildfire to return to home, the strongest sign yet that firefighters are turning a corner in a grueling battle against the flames that have burned an area four times the size of Paris. But blazes flared elsewhere across […]
France orders 4,000 more evacuated as fires displace a third of a million across southwest Europe
LEGE-CAP FERRET, France | French authorities ordered nearly 4,000 more people to evacuate Tuesday from tourist sites on the Atlantic coast as returning heat threatened firefighters’ fragile hold on a vast wildfire west of Bordeaux. The blaze in the Gironde region has burned an area four times the size of Paris and forced 220,000 people […]
France says monster fire that forced 220,000 people to flee has stopped growing
LEGE-CAP FERRET, France | Fire crews and planes wrestled Monday to bring a monster wildfire under control in southwest France before a forecast jump in temperatures complicates the massive firefighting effort against a blaze that has burned an area four times the size of Paris. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the fire had stopped growing, […]
Wildfires in France drive 250,000 people from their homes and creep toward wine city of Bordeaux
LEGE-CAP FERRET, France | A raging wildfire in southwest France forced the evacuation of 55,000 people overnight Sunday, bringing the total forced out of their homes to a staggering 220,000 in one region alone, as flames crept ever closer to the wine region city of Bordeaux. Neighboring Spain oversaw its own fire evacuations on the […]
Tens of thousands of people flee raging wildfires in France and Spain, some escaping by boat
ARCACHON, France | Large forest fires burned out of control in southwestern France and central Spain on Friday, prompting authorities to evacuate an estimated 87,000 people from their homes. Some even fled by boat when flames swept through the touristic Cap Ferret peninsula on France’s Atlantic coast. Dozens of firefighters were injured, authorities said. Some […]
Europe’s record heat has overwhelmed Paris mortuaries and left families in distress
PARIS | Every few minutes, the mortuary owner’s phone rings. Since a record-smashing heat wave started taking lives and storage space for bodies in Paris and beyond, the funeral directors and mourning families calling him mostly have the same question: Do you have room for one more? With all 32 places in his cold room […]
France records around 1,000 additional deaths as extreme heat sets European records
BERLIN | France saw around 1,000 additional deaths last week at the height of its record-smashing heat wave, the country’s public health agency said Sunday, as new temperature highs sparked wildfires in Germany and Berlin police used water cannons to cool down the crowds. Temperature records were toppled in several countries on the weekend as […]
Europe’s extreme heat would be impossible without climate change, scientists say
The record-breaking heat that’s scorching Europe day and night this month would not have been possible without climate change, according to a new study. The World Weather Attribution rapid study released Friday found that the heat would have been virtually impossible just five decades ago, and is 200 times more likely today than it would […]
France restricts public alcohol consumption and outdoor sports as heat wave bakes parts of Europe
PARIS | France endured sizzling temperatures on Sunday, with trains, concerts and sports events canceled and authorities cracking down on drinking alcohol in public, as an exceptional heat wave unfurled across parts of Europe. Multiple drownings were reported as people sought relief in whatever water they could find. About a third of France is under […]
As the United States turns 250, Americans still can’t get enough of French luxury
NEW YORK | At the pinnacle of the American cultural pyramid, one particular inspiration has echoed across the centuries through friendship and tension alike: France. The American love affair with French luxury goods and their cultural cachet and craftsmanship has spanned the younger country’s history, and a new exhibit explores the story of how these […]