- Title: French fires force residents, holidaymakers into evacuation shelters
- Date: 26th July 2017
- Summary: BORMES-LES-MIMOSAS, FRANCE (JULY 26, 2017) (REUTERS) WATER BOMBER AIRCRAFT IN AIR, FLYING THROUGH SMOKE WATER BOMBER AIRCRAFT DROPPING WATER ON WILDFIRE FLAMES AND SMOKE FROM WILDFIRE IN FOREST VARIOUS OF EVACUEES SITTING AND LYING ON GRASS IN FRONT OF SHELTER WITH SMOKE IN BACKGROUND EVACUEE, MICHELINE JULES, (ON RIGHT) LOOKING AT SMOKE (SOUNDBITE) (French) EVACUEE, MICHELINE JULES, SAYING: "It was half past midnight. My husband woke me up saying to me, 'Quick, quick, quick, we need to leave, there is a fire, we need to leave'. Then well, we took our stuff, that's it, I took my swimsuit and a t-shirt, my shorts, and I left." JULES HOLDING PEACH IN HAND ENTRANCE TO GYMNASIUM WHERE EVACUEES ARE BEING CARED FOR INTERIOR OF GYMNASIUM, PEOPLE INSIDE SOCKET WITH PHONE CHARGERS PLUGGED IN PEOPLE CHARGING PHONES INTERIOR OF GYMNASIUM WITH PEOPLE LYING ON MATTRESSES ON GROUND WOMEN AND CHILDREN ON MATTRESSES (SOUNDBITE) (French) SPOKESMAN FOR THE CIVIL PROTECTION OF THE VAR DEPARTMENT, MIKAEL WELAND, SAYING: "We opened this accommodation during the night where roughly a thousand people came to spend the night. So our role was to welcome them, to put them to bed, to provide them with food and drinks if need be. We also opened this morning at 9 a.m. a psychological and social unit to look after shocked people because there are quite a lot of people who are were shocked by what they saw or experienced." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE PLAYING CARDS ON MATTRESS PEOPLE ON MATTRESS VARIOUS OF PEOPLE SLEEPING ON MATTRESS MAN WITH PHONE ON MATTRESS EVACUEE, LENAICK ONEN, SEATED ON MATTRESS RABBIT IN CAGE (SOUNDBITE) (French) EVACUEE, LENAICK ONEN, SAYING: "We were evacuated, I mean, they woke us up at half past midnight for a meeting to inform us about the wildfires. And then, half an hour to one hour later, they decided to evacuate us from the camp. So we only took our personal belongings, handbags etc., with our papers. And we left." WATER BOMBER AIRCRAFT DROPPING WATER ON WILDFIRE FLAMES AND SMOKE FROM WILDFIRE IN FOREST WATER BOMBER AIRCRAFT IN AIR WATER BOMBER AIRCRAFT DROPPING WATER ON WILDFIRE HEAVY SMOKE COMING FROM FOREST
- Embargoed: 9th August 2017 18:19
- Keywords: Bormes-les-Mimosas southern France fires evacuees shelter seaplanes
- Location: BORMES-LES-MIMOSAS, FRANCE
- City: BORMES-LES-MIMOSAS, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Wildfires/Forest Fires
- Reuters ID: LVA0016RCVEPZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Holidaymakers and local residents in southern France were forced into emergency shelter on Wednesday (July 26) after a wildfire broke out in the country's tourist-thronged Riviera coast overnight.
The blaze was the latest of several wind-whipped fires that are ravaging forest and scrubland on the hills and slopes that spill into the Mediterranean sea between the Marseilles and the city of Nice in the southeastern corner of France.
Not far west of the yacht-filled marinas of Saint-Tropez resort, 10,000 people were evacuated - 3,000 of them from campsites - as a fast-encroaching fire ripped through the hills.
A gymnasium in Bormes-les-Mimosas sheltered around 1,000 people over night, with evacuees telling Reuters television they escaped from the fires carrying just a few belongings. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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