SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Some of the 220,000 people who fled wildfires in France are returning to their homes. And here’s NPR Eleanor Beardsley on France’s largest civilian evacuation since World War II.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking French).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Speaking French).
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: The newspaper tobacco shop is open again in the town of Martignas-sur-Jalle, just 10 miles west of Bordeaux.
UNIDENTIFIED CUSTOMER: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: “I missed you,” says a customer to the owner. I missed you all too, she replies from behind the cash register.
All around Bordeaux, little towns like this are coming back to life as people return to their homes. This entire town was evacuated a week ago with the fires approaching. Carole Gomes (ph) is coming out of the shop. She describes the night they left at midnight.
CAROLE GOMES: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: “There were tons of ashes coming down, a thick, sticky fog,” she says. “It was dark, and we couldn’t find our cat. It was so hard.”
Gomes becomes emotional talking about the kindness and solidarity of everyone, especially the local officials.
GOMES: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: “Our cat is fine, and it’s thanks to a person in the mayor’s office who went out and found and fed all the animals that people had to leave behind,” she says.
(Speaking French).
Gomes invites me to come see her house.
(Speaking French).
I get in the car with her and husband, Florent (ph). They’ve lived here for 51 years and describe a close-knit, friendly community in an idyllic spot between Bordeaux and the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by pine forests.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAR ELECTRONICS DINGING)
BEARDSLEY: We’re pulling into their driveway. They have a nice little bungalow stucco house with tile roof, hedges with the garden and a pebble driveway. Opening the gate.
GOMES: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: We go inside. There is a light soot coating on her walls.
GOMES: (Speaking French).
(SOUNDBITE OF CAT MEOWING)
GOMES: (Speaking French).
(SOUNDBITE OF CAT MEOWING)
BEARDSLEY: But Kiki (ph) is there. She shows me her backyard.
(SOUNDBITE OF FOOTSTEPS)
BEARDSLEY: Oh, your swimming pool.
GOMES: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: “The pool was black,” she says. “My husband’s been cleaning since 6 a.m. this morning.”
But she says none of this matters because at one point, she feared she would have nothing to return to at all. The fire incinerated 100,000 acres in the Bordeaux region, and similar fires are raging across Europe amid drought and record temperatures linked to climate change.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHURCH BELLS RINGING)
BEARDSLEY: Church bells ring one village over in Saint-Jean-d’Illac. Next to the church is a fire logistics hub, where over the last week, the fire trucks were repaired and refilled with gas and water to go back into the flames. Several firefighters lounge in the churchyard finally getting a break. Romain Sitaud is head of this operation.
ROMAIN SITAUD: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: “The outpouring of generosity from the population, the farmers, the local businesses has been amazing,” he says. “Everyone was doing their all to support us.”
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Speaking French).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: Just then, a family with three kids comes up to give homemade crepes to the firefighters to thank them for what they’ve done. People here know, if their houses are still standing, it’s thanks to their bravery.
DAPHNEE MADELPECH: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: Across from the church, Daphnee Madelpech has reopened her graphics and photo studio. She also lives nearby. She says they had to leave fast.
MADELPECH: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: “I just took the camera,” she says. “In fact, this evacuation has made me realize that you don’t really need any of it, except for the husband, the dog, the cat, your papers and some cash.”
MADELPECH: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: “It’s the human factor that’s important,” she says. “Everywhere we took refuge this week, people were so kind when they found out we were from Bordeaux, and when we returned, all of us neighbors just hugged each other. This is what matters in life.”
Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Saint-Jean-d’Illac, France. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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