BORDEAUX, France (AP) 鈥� The mobile phone alert message marked 鈥淯RGENT鈥� came with a beeeeeeep in the dead of night.
鈥淓vacuate now,鈥� it said.
Suddenly awake, Morgane Bonichot scrambled. She grabbed her 9-year-old daughter, their rabbit and their dog but didn’t think to pack underwear.
The 40-year-old childcare worker found herself swept up in one of the Europe has seen since World War II, forced with more than 220,000 other people to flee a in southwest France that has consumed an area four times the size of Paris and is defying a massive effort, involving , to bring it under control.
In hindsight, Bonichot thinks maybe she should have seen it coming.
Her daughter was in the blaze’s epicenter when it ignited last week, staying with an uncle in the midst of the pine forests, scrub and farmland being consumed by an inferno so virulent that it has morphed at times into a , spitting lightning bolts that have sparked yet more flames.
Among the fire’s first evacuees, the daughter came home Friday. But with the flames spreading closer to her mother’s house west of Bordeaux, the daughter began preparing to flee again.
鈥淪he packed a suitcase with a lot of things, telling me, ‘Mum, you need to pack your suitcase because we鈥檙e going to have to be evacuated,’鈥� Bonichot said.
Just hours later, at 2:47 a.m., she got the evacuation order for their town, Saint-Jean-d鈥橧llac, on her phone.
鈥淔orest fire underway,鈥� it said.
All told, regional authorities have emptied two dozen towns and villages, some ravaged by fire. Others between the blaze and Bordeaux, including Saint-Jean-d鈥橧llac, were evacuated as a precaution by government officials who say their priority is making sure that no lives are lost.
After a pause in evacuations Monday, when the fire’s spread stopped, they resumed Tuesday as flames flared again. An additional 4,000 people were moved from camping sites and holiday homes on the blaze’s northern edge, increasing the number of people forced to flee: more than 220,000 in the Gironde region alone. In Spain, historic wildfires have also forced tens of thousands of evacuations, bringing the number displaced in southwest Europe to roughly a third of a million.
鈥淲e left just like that,鈥� Bonichot said. 鈥淢y car had broken down, so neighbors had to drive me, along with my little girl and the animals. But one of the neighbors had a cat, and with the smell of the rabbit it became very complicated. So she had to drop me off.鈥�
After a few days staying with Bonichot’s mother, they moved again, this time to a huge exhibition center in Bordeaux that city authorities have converted into a temporary shelter. It has camp beds, food, medical and veterinary services, clothes and volunteers doing what they can to make people comfortable.
The rabbit stays in a cage between the mother and daughter鈥檚 beds and the dog curls up in a large bowl. After a couple of days in the makeshift conditions, 鈥淚鈥檓 starting to become really exhausted,鈥� Bonichot said.
But she doesn’t want to go home until she’s sure they won’t be evacuated again.
鈥淚 just can鈥檛 put my animals through another journey. The only trip they should have to make now is the one back home. Otherwise, for the rabbit, the stress could be fatal.鈥�
鈥淎nd my dog was dehydrated,鈥� she said. 鈥淗ere, there鈥檚 air conditioning and everything, so for the moment he鈥檚 doing a little better.鈥�
Gironde authorities have said evacuees won鈥檛 be allowed back until the fire is contained, although on Tuesday they gave the go-ahead for returns to three suburbs of Bordeaux that haven鈥檛 had fires. It’s unknown when others might be allowed home. Fire trucks are still racing from one flare-up to the next, as and retardant. Smoke clouds could be seen from kilometers away Tuesday.
Even when this inferno is beaten, the next one may not be far behind. Successive heat waves this year have turned European forests tinder-dry. They have also served as sobering reminders that human-caused makes such extreme events increasingly likely.
鈥淲hat really drives me crazy is that it makes me very worried about the future, because year after year it鈥檚 getting worse,鈥� Bonichot said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be a catastrophe.鈥�
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Leicester reported from Paris.
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