Local authorities warn French wildfires ‘could last for months’ as blazes create ‘fire clouds’

Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated across France and Spain

This comes as hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated across France and Spain with the hotel area of Bordeaux being closed due to the fires.

Speaking to FranceInfo, Lieutenant-Colonel David Annotel explained that the fire could last "several months" until it is completely extinguished.

He explained that the 2022 Landiras wildfire was not considered officially extinguished until 2025.

”We're looking at a similar situation. For many weeks and months, crews from all over France will have to continue rotating in."

The biggest thing for crews is it control the wildfires and stop their spread.

Large-scale evacuation around Bordeaux

As France's sixth largest city with a population of more than 1.2 million people, Bordeaux has been on high alert.

More than 300,000 people have been evacuated across both France and Spain while Bordeaux Airport's hotel zone has been evacuated until further notice.

The airport remains operational.

Wildfires are raging just 15km (9 miles) from Bordeaux, the city’s mayor Thomas Cazenave said on Sunday.

What is a fire cloud?

The intense wildfires have led to a phenomenon known as a 'fire cloud' being formed.

Officially a 'pyrocumulonimbus', a compound word of Greek and Latin which literally means 'large fire cloud', the phenomenon is a sort of feedback loop.

The intense heat created by the fires leads to masses of warm air rising and mixing with cooler air higher in the sky, forming large storm clouds which then can lead to lightning strikes which can also ignite fires.

Imagine the usual storm cloud creation process but supercharged.