PARIS REQUESTS EU ASSISTANCE OVER WILDFIRES

PARIS, JULY 24 /SRNA/ - France has requested assistance from the EU due to a major wildfire near the Atlantic coast, President Emmanuel Macron said.

"The situation is extremely tense and difficult, with wildfires affecting our country, particularly in Gironde," Macron wrote on X.

He added that France has requested the activation of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.

"We will soon be able to count on reinforcements from two Croatian Canadair aircraft, two Portuguese Air Tractor firefighting planes, and two Black Hawk helicopters from the Czech Republic and Slovakia," Macron said.

More than 10,000 people have been evacuated in southwestern France as the rapidly spreading wildfire has engulfed at least 2,400 hectares of land west of the city of Bordeaux.