San Francisco Frontiers - Untamed wildfires force over 160,000 to flee in France, Spain

The smell of burning reached central Madrid early Saturday, as Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was set to visit the zone wracked by what officials have called the surrounding region's worst fire on record.

The major fires have been burning for two or three days, with many hundreds of firefighters battling them around the clock, to the point of exhaustion. Both countries have asked for EU help.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday ordered the military to enter the fiery fray, which hit residents and holidaymakers alike at the peak of France's vacation season.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the country had never before seen such fires on this scale.

A local French official warned the blaze near Bordeaux was threatening the city's greater area, home to many of the world's most prestigious wineries.

Emergency shelters were set up in schools and gymnasiums in southwestern France for tourists and residents left wondering what they would return to.

"We had no one to put us up," said Caroline Larrode, 49, who fled home in Saumos on Friday for a huge Bordeaux hangar housing people evacuated from the Arcachon Basin with her cats Nenette, Poupette and Tina.

At least 141,000 people have been evacuated in southwestern France along with 25,000 in the Madrid region, among them more than 1,200 elderly and disabled people, French and Spanish officials said.

Nearly 40,000 more people in Spain were told to lock themselves up indoors.

The unprecedented fires in France and Spain were fuelled by forests left tinder dry by successive heatwaves since May. Scientists say climate change is making drought conditions more frequent and making weather emergencies more extreme.

- Madrid fire 'at its peak' -

Spain's Sanchez was scheduled to attend an emergency planning meeting in Cenicientos, a village at the heart of the fire zone just west of Madrid. He was to speak to reporters afterwards.

Two of the three major wildfires near of Madrid have merged into one, and are threatening to join up to form a massive inferno just kilometres from the capital.

The Madrid regional government's environment official, Carlos Novillo, had told reporters Friday that the fire was "at its peak and... currently beyond the capacity of firefighters to contain".

Among those who fled from a suburban town was audiovisual technician Luis, who had spent the afternoon helping evacuees from the village of Pelayos de la Presa when he received the order to evacuate.

"I cried at first because it's where I grew up. But now, it's more a feeling of anger and resignation, because there's nothing we can do as long as we're not allowed to go back and see what we'll find there," he told AFPTV.

The Spanish government's delegate in Madrid, Francisco Martin, seized upon a forecast dip in temperatures Saturday to say "there is a real opportunity now to tackle this fire with some guarantee of success".

But he warned that Saturday would still be "difficult" as "the wind is expected to rise in the morning, with rather erratic gusts".

- Vast tracts destroyed -

In France, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu called a crisis meeting of key ministers late Friday and said a total of 1,000 military personnel would be deployed to confront the flames, which have already ravaged 22,000 hectares (54,000 acres) -- an area roughly double the size of Paris.

In a post on X, Lecornu also promised the delivery of 1.5 million protective face masks in the Gironde department surrounding Bordeaux "to protect the personnel involved and the populations exposed to smoke".

Around 44,000 people fled the swanky Cap Ferret peninsula south of Bordeaux, known for its millionaire residences. Hundreds of them had to leave by boat.

In the village of Andernos, Maria Lalanne, a 90-year-old who had fled Lege Cap Ferret, sat on a camp bed in a gym without her glasses or hearing aid, which she had left behind.

"I have heart disease, high blood pressure and problems with my eyes," she said. "I don't know how long all this will last. I don't know how my house is, whether it has burnt."

Some 40 of the 1,000 firefighters battling the Cap Ferret blaze have been injured, authorities said. Three firefighters have died in wildfires in France and Italy this week.

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D.Robinson--SFF