France-Wildfires/Gironde
France-Wildfires/Gironde
Dateline : July 30, 2026
Location : France
Duration : 2'01
Gironde, France - July 30, 2026 (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Various of destroyed buildings, vehicles, burned trees, ashes
2. Various of local resident helping firefighters put out fire
3. SOUNDBITE (French) Renaud, resident, Lacanau (full name not given) (partially overlaid with shot 4):
"It feels strange because this is home, and that's why we're here to help the firefighters protect the houses. We're in a place that, not long ago, still burned quite a bit. There are still some patches of green woodland here that could flare up again."
++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
4. Various of burned trees; local resident spraying water
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5. Local resident putting out fire
6. Various of firefighters putting out fire
7. SOUNDBITE (French) Mickael Forget, chief warrant officer, Sarthe Departmental Fire and Rescue Service (SDIS 72) (starting with shot 6/partially overlaid with shot 8):
"Ultimately, we extinguish all the smoking spots along the accessible roads since we are operating fire engines. The residents tell us where they are, and we put out all the smoking spots we find around."
++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
8. Local residents talking with firefighter
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9. Various of fire trucks, firefighters resting
10. SOUNDBITE (French) Matthieu Jomain, commander, Gironde Departmental Fire and Rescue Service (SDIS 33) (starting with shot 9/partially overlaid with shot 11):
"We're on the ninth day of fire-fighting, with periods of maximum intensity and a fire of exceptional violence. All our actions now aim at bringing the blaze under control. Everything leads us to believe that the end of the tunnel is in sight."
++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
11. Various of burned-out house, trees, ashes
++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
12. Exterior of the Bordeaux Exhibition Center, vehicles, people
13. Various of evacuated residents in hall
14. SOUNDBITE (French) Rabah, resident, Saint-Medard-en-Jalle (full name not given):
"I left without my medication, without anything. And it was a disaster."
15. Various of evacuated residents in hall
16. Various of volunteers at work
17. SOUNDBITE (French) Gabin, volunteer (full name not given) (starting with shot 16/ending with shot 18):
"I bring meals to people who can't get around inside the hall, people with disabilities or who are exhausted. Some of them simply don't have the energy to move around."
18. Various of evacuated residents in hall; volunteers at work
Southwestern France’s catastrophic wildfire is finally stabilizing, bringing relief to exhausted firefighters and sparking extraordinary solidarity among local residents.
The blaze in Gironde department marks the worst forest fire France has faced this summer. The massive fire has scorched 42,000 hectares of land, destroyed more than 200 homes, and forced the evacuation of over 200,000 people. On Thursday, French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez announced that the fire is now stabilized but not contained.
Unwilling to just stand by, residents in towns of Gironde, like Lacanau, have stepped up to help emergency crews.
"It feels strange because this is home, and that's why we're here to help the firefighters protect the houses. We're in a place that, not long ago, still burned quite a bit. There are still some patches of green woodland here that could flare up again," said Renaud, a local resident.
Firefighting efforts are now focused on tracking down small wisps of smoke rising from the ground that can flare into flames within minutes. Teams of firefighters from across France have been deployed to detect and extinguish these hidden hotspots.
"Ultimately, we extinguish all the smoking spots along the accessible roads since we are operating fire engines. The residents tell us where they are, and we put out all the smoking spots we find around," said Mickael Forget, chief warrant officer of the Sarthe Departmental Fire and Rescue Service (SDIS 72), a firefighting department in Sarthe, north to Gironde.
After nine days of intense operations, local commanders said they were cautiously optimistic.
"We're on the ninth day of fire-fighting, with periods of maximum intensity and a fire of exceptional violence. All our actions now aim at bringing the blaze under control. Everything leads us to believe that the end of the tunnel is in sight," said Matthieu Jomain, commander of the Gironde Departmental Fire and Rescue Service (SDIS 33).
Evacuations remain on a massive scale, with authorities reporting that 224,000 people had been forced to leave their homes at the height of the crisis. About 50 kilometers from the fire zone, Bordeaux's exhibition center took in thousands of displaced residents.
"I left without my medication, without anything. And it was a disaster," said Rabah, a resident of Saint-Medard-en-Jalle, another town of Gironde.
At its peak, the Bordeaux center housed 6,000 evacuees. Today, that number has dwindled to a few hundred, as the majority have been rehoused or cleared to return home. Throughout it all, local volunteers have remained tirelessly on site to support the most vulnerable.
"I bring meals to people who can't get around inside the hall, people with disabilities or who are exhausted. Some of them simply don't have the energy to move around," said Gabin, a volunteer.
In the latest update, authorities said 144,000 evacuees had been able to return home in recent hours. France's Interior Ministry said it was optimistic, while urging residents to remain vigilant as firefighters continue to secure the fire zone against flare-ups.
ID : 8492314
Published : 2026-08-01 17:35
Last Modified : 2026-08-01 20:26:44
Source : China Global Television Network (CGTN)
Restrictions : No access Chinese mainland
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