Fleeing a wall of flames: Tourists describe France wildfires escape

Families have relived how their tranquil holidays in France turned into a race to escape raging wildfires. Tourists told the BBC of emergency alerts in the middle of the night, desperate drives just metres from six-storey high flames and the sight of people flocking to beaches with their suitcases.

Families have relived how their tranquil holidays in France turned into a race to escape raging wildfires.

Tourists told the BBC of emergency alerts in the middle of the night, desperate drives just metres from six-storey high flames and the sight of people flocking to beaches with their suitcases.

Huge forest fires in south-west France and central Spain have displaced more than 220,000 people, with the French military drafted in to help and the Spanish government declaring a national emergency.

Winds and continued heat are still helping to fan the flames with some tourists reporting smelling acrid smoke like a "bonfire" far outside the affected areas.

Flights to Bordeaux and Madrid, the closest cities to the blaze-hit regions, are currently not affected. Earlier on Saturday, a French foreign minister described the fires as a "tragedy" but urged tourists not to cancel their travel plans.

Among those caught up in the crisis is Zac Morrison, who arrived in Cap Ferret - a popular peninsula blanketed with pine trees 40 miles (65km) south-west of Bordeaux - on Thursday.

The 21-year-old from London, who is on holiday with 10 members of his family, woke up to two text alerts at 04:00 and 06:00 local time ordering him to evacuate "by all means necessary".

Andrea Gretton

A family showed the BBC how clouds of smoke descended on their campsite in Biscarrosse, south-west France

"We had the gendarmerie [French military] going door to door," he told BBC Your Voice. "It was something like out of a movie - we had to take everything."

Since experiencing "panic" before a "well organised" operation to clear out the entire peninsula, he said he received four different evacuation alerts from the authorities - the most recent at 17:00 on Friday - after "we moved away from one fire to only get put into the crosshairs of another".

His family took shelter on a beach in nearby Arcachon before a relative came to their aid with a place to stay. His brother Nate, 11, is still coming to terms with having seen the flames.

"Other people have been sleeping in schools and warehouses and the beaches have had people just waiting for the go ahead," Morrison added. "There's people on the beach here with their suitcases."

He said the family was awaiting instructions on whether they can continue their holiday until mid August.

"It rained last night but we are hearing that electricity may be cut out over the peninsula, especially as the ash clouds go towards Bordeaux... I've heard about houses burning in just an hour, it's scary but sadly people here are getting used to it."

Family fled in 15 minutes

AFP via Getty Images

The wildfire on Moutchic beach on the shore of Lake Lacanau

David Morton had enjoyed most of his week-long trip to Cap Ferret with his wife and two teenage sons in the forests under baking sun.

But the mixture of "tinder dry" pine and intense heat helped upend things on day five when the family was awoken on Friday morning.

"Our phones were all flashing and bleeping; there was a message saying we had to evacuate immediately and drive on the one road out of the [Cap Ferret] peninsula," the 53-year-old said.

"We literally threw everything into our suitcases and within 15 minutes were in the hire car."

He said they came within 500m of the main fire. "The flames were higher than full-size forest pine trees, so five or six storeys high, and it was clear this was a fire that was out of control at that point."

The family, from Gloucestershire, has stayed with friends until their flight home from Bordeaux on Saturday.

David Morton

David Morton's holiday was going smoothly until the final two days

'City is evacuated but I'm still here'

Others are still stranded. Rebecca Papin, a French-American visiting her holiday home in the commune of Biscarrosse, near to the Cap Ferret peninsula, saw a large plume of smoke in the distance on Thursday.

Just three hours later when she arrived home that night, "there were water planes in the sky dropping water, firefighter helicopters in the sky and the entire distance was just a wall of flames," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"It was quite far away from my house but I could see it very clearly from the upstairs level of my home."

She said the authorities appeared "overwhelmed with trying" to fight the fire and issued no evacuation order, so she slept alongside her young children with her earplugs in - meaning she missed the sound of the evacuation overnight.

David Morton

The flames seen from David Morton's car window

"When I woke up in the morning we were almost alone in the city because the city has been evacuated and I'm still here," she said.

"The main roads are closed because they're on fire - the police advised me on Friday at 07:30 to stay in my home, to not leave my home under any circumstance; there was ash falling from the sky like snow."

Some British families told the BBC they had moved 100 miles away to other parts of France to continue their holidays.

Mark Dorey, from Leeds, decided to drive to the Dordogne with his wife and three children after being evacuated from a campsite near Parentis-en-Born.

"You wouldn't believe it, but me and my two boys were watching a Queen tribute act at the campsite bar - straight after a rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody someone stopped them to say we were being evacuated at about 22:00," he said.

Mark Dorey

Mark Dorey and his family have changed locations in France to complete their holiday with more certainty

Before heading to the Dordogne the family spent a night with hundreds of other evacuees in a gymnasium.

Dorey, 42, said he feels lucky to be looked after and safe, but is thinking about holidaying "closer to home" next year.

And BBC South's Joanna Kent, who was on holiday in the Cap Ferret peninsula earlier this week, recalled seeing her campsite deserted after two van loads of police told tourists they had 30 minutes to get out.

AFP via Getty Images

Shelters have been set up for evacuated residents and holidaymakers

While the wildfires show no sign of abating soon, the UK Foreign Office is currently not advising against travel to France or Spain.

Éléonore Caroit, France's minister for international partnerships, advised tourists on Saturday: "You have entire areas that are fine, you're seeing similar phenomena in Spain and other countries.

"I'm in Paris and nothing is happening, and most other regions are OK, so do please come to France and do not cancel your travel plans.

"But wherever you are, please do be advised as to what might be happening."

In Madrid the fires are in the wider region far outside the city centre - and authorities are battling to stop different fires merging.

But the flames have already shut down a facility for US space agency Nasa 37 miles (65km) west of the city.

Madrid's regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso described the fire there as the "worst fire in the history of the region", with the area facing a "perfect storm" of high temperatures, relentless wind and merging fire fronts.