Macron: France Requested EU Assistance to Deal with Fires

SadaNews - On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron stated that France has requested assistance from the European Union to deal with a major forest fire near the country's Atlantic coast, according to the Reuters news agency.

Macron wrote on the platform "X": "The situation remains extremely tense with the raging fires in our country, especially in Gironde."

He added: "France has requested the activation of the EU's civil protection mechanism. We will soon be able to rely on reinforcements from two aircraft from Croatia, of the (Canadair) type, and two from Portugal, of the (Air Tractor) type, in addition to two helicopters of the (Black Hawk) type from the Czech Republic and Slovakia."

Officials stated on Thursday that authorities evacuated more than 10,000 people overnight in southwestern France after a massive and rapidly spreading fire swept through at least six thousand acres of land west of Bordeaux.