Two Hundred and Seventy Thousand

More than 270,000 people have been forced to flee their homes as out-of-control wildfires rage across France and Spain. In Spain, a man has died in the town of Manises, north-west of Valencia, according to the Valencia fire brigade. Several people have been treated for smoke inhalation and burns. The Spanish prime minister has warned of "complex hours" ahead.[1][2]

In France, an Airbus A400M military aircraft has carried out its first-ever firefighting mission, dropping retardant over a wildfire near Lacanau in south-west France. The aircraft can drop 20 tonnes of water or retardant and was deployed on an experimental basis to strengthen the country's forest fire response. France has reported a record area of devastation, and the military is now assisting with water bomber aircraft.[1]

In Scotland, a wildfire has been burning in the Cairngorms National Park for ten days. More than 100 firefighters and a helicopter are battling the blaze, which has been declared a major incident. Residents have been evacuated, and the Scottish government has requested military help from the UK government. A family evacuated from a campsite in Sanguinet, France, described thinking the pink sky was a sunset before realising it was the fire. "We got everything in the car and off we went," said one parent. They kept the children calm by talking about what songs to play in the car.[1]

270,000 people. That is the population of a city. Not Luxembourg City, which is smaller, but a city. They are gone. The fires are in France and Spain and Scotland, and the smoke is in the sky, and the sky is pink, and a family thought it was a sunset and it was not. In Luxembourg this week, there were two fires on Thursday night, three on Friday morning, two on Friday night. Farming equipment in Septfontaines. Vegetation on Jean Monnet Street. The apples are burning at 60 degrees. The farmers are pouring drinking water on them. The CGDIS bought 76 new vehicles. The fires here are small. The fires there are not small. The A400M is a military aircraft that was built to carry troops and cargo, and it is dropping water on a forest in Lacanau because the forest is burning and the firefighters are not enough. One man is dead in Manises. The fires are not in Luxembourg, but the smoke is in the sky, and the sky is the same sky, and the heat is the same heat.[1][2]