French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu faced angry residents during a visit to one of the areas hardest hit by wildfires, as devastating blazes continued to cause deaths, destruction and evacuations across Europe.
Around 200 residents gathered outside the town hall in Le Porge in southwestern France on Monday, where 183 homes were destroyed by the fires. Protesters jeered Lecornu as he arrived for a meeting with local officials, expressing frustration over the government’s handling of the disaster.
Ludivine Daurignac, an organizer representing affected residents, accused the authorities of preventing them from meeting the prime minister and said residents wanted “truth, transparency and justice” regarding the response to the fires.
“We were met by riot police lines that blocked our access,” she said.
Another resident questioned why firefighting resources had allegedly been withdrawn from the area to protect Cap Ferret, saying local people wanted to understand why the fire had been managed in that way.
Lecornu announced €12 million in emergency assistance for the hardest-hit departments of Gironde and Landes. Of that amount, €10 million will go to Gironde and €2 million to Landes to support relocation and recovery efforts.
The government also plans to accelerate reconstruction by allowing permits for the equivalent rebuilding of destroyed homes to be issued within a month, or potentially sooner. Lecornu said the state would also help affected businesses through tax and social-contribution relief.
The fires in southwestern France have destroyed tens of thousands of hectares, hundreds of homes and forced around 220,000 people to evacuate. The scale of the disaster has intensified scrutiny of France’s wildfire preparedness and the government’s response.
The crisis is part of a wider wave of wildfires across Europe this summer. Belgium, Spain and Greece have also faced major fires, prompting European countries to deploy additional firefighting aircraft, helicopters and ground crews through EU assistance mechanisms.
Lecornu has also warned that the destruction of vegetation could increase the risk of flooding in France later this year, highlighting the possibility of one climate-related disaster following another.
The French government is now under pressure to balance immediate assistance to affected communities with longer-term measures to strengthen wildfire prevention and improve emergency response as extreme heat and drought continue to increase fire risks across Europe.
