Authorities evacuated at least 13,000 businesses in the Gironde department in southwestern France due to large-scale wildfires that broke out there. This was reported by BFMTV, citing Minister of the Economy and Finance Roland Lescure.

According to the minister, employees of the affected businesses will be able to receive partial unemployment benefits. He noted that the authorities are carrying out a “mobilization [of fire services] in response to an environmental and, obviously, social catastrophe, which has also become an economic time bomb.”

The largest wildfire in the Gironde department in southwestern France has already spread across 42,000 hectares. The situation in the country’s southwest remains extremely difficult. To fight the fires, 2,500 firefighters and rescue personnel, including teams from Switzerland, have arrived in the department. They are being assisted by 1,500 French military personnel and 1,200 police officers, who are carrying out evacuations and maintaining safety in the disaster zone.