France, Spain battle ‘unpredictable’ wildfires as 325,000 evacuated

France is fighting an “unpredictable” wildfire close to Bordeaux, as Spain warns of “difficult hours” in its own fiery battle, with evacuations from danger zones in both countries mounting to well over 325,000 people.

The forest infernos, raging for days unchecked in France’s southwest and in central Spain near Madrid, are among the worst each nation has seen in peacetime.

France’s major fire has caused an unprecedented “pyrocumulonimbus”: a gigantic, untamable fire cloud that creates its own winds and packs lightning that causes more blazes, according to the National Firefighters Federation of France (FNSPF).

“It’s a David-versus-Goliath scenario. The idea is that, at some point, we’ll find a weak spot and strike there,” says FNSPF spokesman Eric Brocardi.

French President Emmanuel Macron has called a crisis cabinet meeting for Monday morning to discuss responses to the fires, his office says.

Spanish officials voice optimism that they are starting to get a grip on some of their fires — though over the weekend, they were confronted with a new fire front, near the eastern coastal city of Valencia, that forced 15,000 people to flee.