MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
It is Bastille Day. July 14 marks the anniversary of the start of the French Revolution. The country will also be watching their national team’s World Cup match against Spain. But the traditional celebrations across France will be subdued because the country is fighting another heat wave and raging wildfires. NPR’s Eleanor Beardsley reports.
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: Scientists say Europe is warming twice as fast as any other continent. Look no further than France for proof. The country is in its third spell of scorching weather since May. Wildfires are raging across the country and not just in the south, which is typically at higher risk.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: The latest blaze to break out is the Forest of Fontainebleau, famous for its rock climbing, about 30 miles south of Paris. The fire is so intense that a major highway has been closed. News reports, like this one from channel France 2, showed smoke billowing over the 16th-century Fontainebleau chateau.
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BEARDSLEY: Astonished residents watched iconic Canadair firefighting planes, typically associated with fighting southern fires, working for the first time in the Paris region. Instead of scooping water from the Mediterranean Sea, the planes are scooping water from the Seine River to dump on the fire. Canadian Rayanne Dupuis lives in Fontainebleau.
RAYANNE DUPUIS: Oh, we can really see the smoke and the Canadairs going back and forth, skimming the Seine, picking up water and flying to dump it. We can see the smoke. We can’t quite smell it yet. But it’s quite windy since yesterday, so this is the perfect storm.
BEARDSLEY: Officials say wildfires have already scorched twice as much land this year as in the same period last year. Scientists with the EU’s climate observation agency, Copernicus, say the frequent and prolonged heat waves are due to global warming caused by man-made greenhouse emissions. And Europe is warming faster because of changes in the oceanic and atmospheric currents that surround it. In cities, infrastructure is buckling in the intense heat. Neighborhoods across Paris have lost power. Trains have been canceled due to buckling tracks. Museums have curtailed hours because they can’t control the heat. Three nuclear reactors have been shut down to prevent discharging excessively hot water into rivers already overheated.
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BEARDSLEY: In the countryside of the Burgundy region, the stone villages are baking in the sun. Farmer Melissa Boise says she’s never seen anything like this.
MELISSA BOISE: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: “Never,” she says. “I have horses and cows, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to give them enough to drink with all the restrictions. And we are actually feeding them from their winter hay rations because all the grass is burnt up.”
In the cities and countryside, the repeated crises brought on by weeks of temperatures hovering around 100 have left many people exhausted and fearful for the future. Bastille Day parades and fireworks have been canceled in many towns across France. So have the traditional dances known as the Bals des Pompiers held at the firehouses. This year, the firefighters are needed elsewhere.
Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Burgundy. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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