Wildfires in the UK and Europe as heatwaves continue | BBC News — Transcript

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1. 0:00Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is
2. 0:02to visit the site of deadly wildfires in
3. 0:04the south of the country. At least 13
4. 0:07people have died in the fires in
5. 0:08Andalusia and Spanish authorities say
6. 0:10that four of them are British. Mr.
7. 0:12Sanchez is expected to meet emergency
8. 0:15teams and assess the damage from the
9. 0:17blaze. Our Spain correspondent Guy
10. 0:19Hedgecoe has the latest.
11. 0:21>> Well, the news is is relatively good in
12. 0:24that the fire we're told has now been
13. 0:26stabilized. The fire that began last
14. 0:28Thursday,
15. 0:30it's burned 7,000 hectares.
16. 0:33It
17. 0:35has claimed 13 lives
18. 0:37as well and 1,400 people were evacuated
19. 0:41from their homes.
20. 0:43Those people are now being told that
21. 0:44they can start to return to their homes.
22. 0:47So, there there is cautious optimism
23. 0:50in terms of the situation. The
24. 0:53conditions have improved somewhat in
25. 0:54terms of the wind and the temperature.
26. 0:57The Andalusian regional president Juan
27. 1:00Manuel Moreno
28. 1:01said that he believes this is the
29. 1:02beginning of the end of a terrifying
30. 1:05fire.
31. 1:07However, we do have that that death
32. 1:09toll. Just a few hours ago it was
33. 1:11confirmed that a 93-year-old British
34. 1:13woman
35. 1:15had died from her injuries in hospital
36. 1:18caused by the fire.
37. 1:20So,
38. 1:21people are very much still in shock down
39. 1:24in Almeria.
40. 1:24>> Yeah, and Pedro Sanchez, Spanish Prime
41. 1:26Minister, due there shortly. Some of the
42. 1:30families of the victims have complained
43. 1:32that there was a kind of lack of
44. 1:33official guidance, lack of text
45. 1:36messages, lack of clear information over
46. 1:38how to evacuate.
47. 1:42>> Yeah, and I think this is a debate
48. 1:44that's going to rage on because this is
49. 1:45an an area in Almeria which it's inland
50. 1:50from the coast. It's not
51. 1:52you know, a big town or city. This is a
52. 1:54a series of villages and it's an area
53. 1:57with
54. 1:58some quite secluded houses. Some of them
55. 2:00holiday homes, some of them homes where
56. 2:02people actually live.
57. 2:04And that appears to be what part of the
58. 2:07problem was and that
59. 2:09there was a community possibly a
60. 2:10communication problem in terms of
61. 2:12letting people know when and how to
62. 2:14evacuate. The local authorities have
63. 2:17said they believe that the people who
64. 2:18died
65. 2:19uh possibly did not follow evacuation
66. 2:22instructions to the letter. Um but I
67. 2:25think there is going to be a debate
68. 2:27about the efficiency of evacuation
69. 2:29instructions uh in the future.
70. 2:32>> Guy Hedcoe, well, it's not just Spain
71. 2:34because in France fire crews including
72. 2:36two fighting planes have rushed to the
73. 2:38Paris region to tackle a large wildfire
74. 2:40south of the city.
75. 2:42Officials say the blaze which broke out
76. 2:44in the Fontainebleau forest along a
77. 2:45major road is of exceptional scale.
78. 2:48France is facing its third heat wave of
79. 2:50the year.
80. 2:52And in North Wales a major incident was
81. 2:54declared over a large-scale wildfire on
82. 2:57Conwy Mountain.
83. 2:58Dozens of people in the village of Capel
84. 3:00Curig were evacuated and neighboring
85. 3:03communities urged to close windows and
86. 3:05doors and avoid affected areas. Brendan
87. 3:08Williams has been speaking to those
88. 3:09living nearby.
89. 3:11>> Our dog started barking madly at about
90. 3:13quarter to six this morning and I could
91. 3:15smell burning so it leapt out of bed and
92. 3:18realized obviously something was going
93. 3:20on but the whole area now up there is in
94. 3:22the evacuation zone and we don't know
95. 3:24when we're going back home.
96. 3:25>> Beyond the smoke that engulfed their
97. 3:27homes, the sheer scale of the blaze
98. 3:29became apparent. On land scorched by
99. 3:33recent hot weather and the flames fanned
100. 3:35by 30 mph winds, the fire quickly took
101. 3:38hold forcing the evacuation of dozens of
102. 3:41homes.
103. 3:41>> Around 6:00 in the morning we had a
104. 3:43knock at the door and I'm like who's
105. 3:46who's at the door at 6:00 in the
106. 3:47morning? There was a police officer and
107. 3:49I looked outside and I just seen the
108. 3:50smoke and I thought all yeah." He said,
109. 3:53"Close all your windows
110. 3:55um because obviously we've got a a bit
111. 3:57of a situation."
112. 3:58>> 2 hours later, there was another knock
113. 4:00on the door saying, "Pack a bag. Um you
114. 4:02may have to just leave."
115. 4:04Um and that to me hit home then because
116. 4:07it's it's Well,
117. 4:08how how serious is this? You know, what
118. 4:10what do I put in my bag?
119. 4:11>> Firefighters were alerted to the blaze
120. 4:13in the early hours of Sunday, and as it
121. 4:16spread, residents in surrounding areas
122. 4:18were also advised to close their doors
123. 4:20and windows. The huge plume of smoke
124. 4:23could be seen from miles around. We've
125. 4:25been advised not to go any further than
126. 4:28this, but from here you can clearly see
127. 4:30the huge blanket of smoke. You can smell
128. 4:33it, you can feel it
129. 4:35in your throat, and you can just about
130. 4:37make out the flames on the mountainside.
131. 4:39Now, conditions up there are described
132. 4:41as particularly challenging because of
133. 4:43this heat and this strong breeze that's
134. 4:45been blowing all day and fueling the
135. 4:47fire. The weather is expected to remain
136. 4:50extremely hot and dry for many in the
137. 4:52coming days, which will only add to the
138. 4:54worries of evacuated residents who don't
139. 4:57yet know what they will be returning to.
140. 5:00Brendan Williams, BBC News, Penmaenmawr.