The French government says ‘no leniency’ will be shown to any arsonist convicted of sparking blazes raging across the country – one of which was started by a volunteer firefighter
France vowed to show ‘no leniency’ to hundreds of arsonists suspected of deliberately starting wildfires raging across the country. Interior minister Laurent Nunez said 184 people had already been arrested on suspicion of arson. One was a volunteer firefighter.
Mr Nunez said police would show ‘total determination to identify every arsonist’ contributing to blazes threatening to engulf the south-west city of Bordeaux.
He wrote on X: “No leniency toward those who endanger lives, expose our firefighters to risk, and destroy our heritage.” French prime minister Sebastian Lecornu blamed more than 90% of fires this month on irresponsible behaviour.
He said on X: “Not all these fires are accidents. Nine out of 10 fires are caused by human activity.” That ranged from dropping cigarettes to discarding barbecues that were still alight.
“Some are started deliberately,” he said. “This is a crime punishable by 15 years of imprisonment.” Among those arrested earlier this month in Fontainebleau, near Paris, was an 18-year-old volunteer firefighter who admitted deliberately starting a blaze close to the town which has seen 2,000 hectares of forest destroyed.
French President Emmanuel Macron said there would be ‘zero tolerance’ for arsonists caught starting ‘the worst fires since World War Two’.
The fire near Bordeaux has burned through an area four times the size of Paris. Local mayor Manuel Martinez said: “We are dealing with a raging fire that we are only now learning to understand. We are at war with an enemy. We need more firefighters – more resources.”
Other large fires have broken out in the Écrins massif in the French Alps and the south-east Var tourist region. At least 360,000 people – including thousands of Brit holidaymakers and second home owners – have been evacuated across France and Spain as temperatures soar past 40C.
The fires are fuelled by intense heat waves that have left forests tinder dry and led to calls for stronger action against climate change. Another heatwave is expected in France in the coming days. Experts fear fires could continue until November.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the emergency was ‘making wildfires even more violent and heat waves more frequent’. A fire in Ávila, west of Madrid, has become Spain’s largest on record burning across 50,000 hectares.
Firefighter Javier García said ‘this doesn’t have a precedent’ and the ferocity had forced his colleagues to prioritise evacuations and property protection as fast-moving walls of flame were too powerful to attack directly. “The evolution is alarming,” he added.
EU spokesman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said firefighting planes and helicopters from member countries had been deployed to France and Spain. She said it was ‘important to clarify that no country can maintain alone all the resources that are needed to tackle every possible natural or other disaster and crisis’.