JAKARTA - French authorities evacuated more than 10,000 residents overnight due to a rapidly spreading forest fire in the Gironde Department, southwest France.
"The need to ensure public safety prompted the authorities to take a preventive evacuation decision for more than 10,000 people during the night," the prefecture wrote in an official statement reported by ANTARA from Sputnik, Thursday, July 23.
The fire has burned more than 2,000 hectares of land.
The fire started near the commune of Saumos, near the Arcachon Basin area, and continued to spread in a southwest direction.
A total of 500 firefighters have been deployed to the location to put out the fire.
Forest fires in France were triggered by an extreme heat wave that hit most of the country.
At the end of June, the French meteorological agency had issued weather warnings in 72 out of a total of 96 departments - a record high in history.
Air temperatures in several areas approached 40 degrees Celsius, even soaring higher in a number of points.
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