84,000 evacuees return home as France fire eases

French authorities gave the go-ahead Thursday for 84,000 evacuees forced out by a monster wildfire to go back to their homes in southwest France, the strongest sign yet that firefighters are turning a corner in their battle against the flames that have burned an area four times the size of Paris.

Europe is enduring one of its hottest summers on record, with wildfires breaking out in areas stretching from the Atlantic coast to the eastern Mediterranean, and hundreds of thousands of people ordered to evacuate from homes and vacation destinations.

Firefighters fanned out to battle infernos in places like England, Spain, and Turkiye, while in Romania, officials at the state-owned Cernavoda nuclear power plant shut down both of its reactors because of the low level of Danube River waters used to cool them.

The returns authorised in France covered nine localities that had been evacuated, including several where firefighters and water-dropping planes had battled flare-ups just the day before. Higher humidity, cooler temperatures and slight rain have raised hopes that Thursday could be a decisive step on the way to vanquishing the fire.

“We’re on the right track,” said Sophie Brocas, prefect of the Gironde region, which includes the city of Bordeaux.

Nearly two-thirds of the 224,000 people initially ordered to evacuate their homes in southwest France have now been allowed to go home. Some 60,000 people who had been evacuated from three Bordeaux suburbs were given the go-ahead to return on Tuesday. Evacuees immediately streamed back on Thursday to the emptied towns and villages, among them 50-year-old Sanachit Pho Ne Keo and his wife. They were relieved to discover that apart from black ash on an outside terrace, their home in Martignas-sur-Jalle hadn’t been damaged or looted.

“Everything seems OK, and it’s a good feeling!” he said. “The fire was pretty close; the last smoking embers are still close … but we could’ve expected worse.”

Local officials reported a “rather calm” night, with a fire that has not grown beyond the 42,000 hectares (about 162 sq. miles) already affected. Some expressed hope that hard-hit businesses could soon get back to work.

The regional prefecture said returning evacuees must keep their phones on for evacuation alerts and should pack in case they need to leave again.