Irish influencer shares horrors of fleeing French wildfires with family
An Irish influencer has said that she was left ‘truly terrified’ after she and her family had to flee wildfires in France.
The wildfires are continuing to rage in France and Spain, including in the Cap Ferret peninsula in the southwest of France.
French authorities ordered the evacuation of Biscarrosse after a small forest fire got out of control, with locals and tourists evacuating overnight.
Irish food influencer Sophie Morris and her family were camping in Biscarrosse when they were evacuated, with Sophie saying the alarm was raised shortly after 3.30 am, leading to them abandoning their belongings and fleeing.
‘We are safe. So thankful we had our car and could evacuate by car when the alarms rang at 3.30 am; many people at the campsite with no car had to walk to the lake to wait there,’ Sophie wrote on Instagram alongside dramatic images of the fires.
‘Actually seeing the flames in the forest as we were driving out and ash falling around the car was truly terrifying, and all I can think of are the people who live here leaving their homes and businesses, not sure if they will lose them; the town of Biscarrosse is burning.’
Sophie said that she and her family were directed to Biscarrosse beach after their evacuation, where they’re currently at a cafe surrounded by an eerie scene of a sun that’s ‘a red dot behind a hazy smoky sky.’
She also sent her tributes to those in Ireland who are currently affected by the wildfires in Slievenamon, adding: ‘We’ve only had to evacuate holiday accommodation; it’s nothing compared to the feeling of potentially losing your home to a wildfire.’
The tourism hotspot of Cap Ferret was under a total evacuation order by French authorities in the early hours of Friday morning, with around 63,000 people being evacuated.
Four firefighting aircraft have been deployed to Spain, and three have been deployed to France, with EU spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen saying that the EU is preparing for a ‘severe situation.’
Evacuees from the peninsula were able to leave from the piers in four villages between 6 am and 9 am Irish time. Anyone who is still in any of the villages is advised to leave either via boat or by the road that links the peninsula to the mainland.
