On holiday near wildfires - WTF to do?

[thetinsoldier]

We’re in Bordeaux, 40k from the fires. It’s really smoky, the sun is covered by smoke and it’s really quite scary. Have spoken to neighbours and they say the smoke is just being blown this way, we’re not in danger, but it’s horrible and scary.

What would you do??

Funny to see this thread. We’re on holiday in a campsite the other side of France and me and DH were talking last night about what we’d do if there were fires near here.

In your shoes I would leave. I’d drive the car back to where it needs to go and get on a train north from there. If there’s a way to salvage anything and go via a campsite in, say, Brittany then I’d try and do that. Otherwise I’d just come home and chalk it up.

How’s things, OP?

would you go to an orange area?

You've connected to a French network since you arrived right? Emergency alerts are pushed out by phone networks so if your phone is connected to a French network you should receive any alerts relevant to the area you are in.

@thetinsoldier I hope you’re ok regardless of whether you’ve decided to wait or you’ve evacuated already.

<<Sending good vibes to you and your family>>

For the benefit of anyone travelling, Bordeaux airport remains open but expect delays.

However at least for a period this AM no public transport to/from and airport hotels closed because the portion of Merignac commune which lies outside the ring road was evacuated...

My spies in the city tell me there's been some rain there but there's also been a thunderstorm.

Just hints in some announcements that the fire is perhaps coming under control but there's a long way to go.

Yes, having now seen the news footage that does sound rather insensitive...

My local town and those about it have working sirens which I presume will sound if danger is imminent.
They test sound them every first Wednesday of the month at midday.
Keep this in mind if you hear them.

@thetinsoldier

I moved from the rural CA Sierra Foothills wildfire country a year ago. I 2nd what @Sugarnspicenallthingsnaice advises. Living in the country was beautiful, but I am so glad to be back living in a town where I don't have to freak out with every siren and/or overhead aircraft or every whiff or smoke or notification on my fire apps.

Be ready to go & have your things staged in a central area. Listen to the authorities, if they tell you to leave, get out immediately, do not go back for any forgotten items. If they say 'shelter in place', do so. Monitor official communications constantly. If you see live flames though, it's probably time to leave but you MUST know your route exactly.

However, if you don't have a car or a definite ride out (you said you took the train) I might consider leaving now simply because if an evacuation order comes through, how will you get out? Public transportation will be disrupted, possibly cancelled. And in an evacuation vehicles such as taxis or ride shares will not be allowed into the evacuation area.

I was responding to the 'no deaths reported' comment. Jura is hundreds of miles away from this particular fire so anyone dying there is not relevant to the response to that comment.

I would leave. You are a tourist, not a resident. It's all very well for our Australian friend to say she would have been constantly evacuated if she moved if a fire was within 40km but she lived there, it's different.

If I were on holiday I'd collect my family member and drive away from the fires. Find an Ibis or other chain hotel, they are more likely to have rooms available than being able to get another gite or wherever you are staying. Could you go somewhere like Toulouse or Montpellier?

France has called in the troops. I wonder if it's all settled down for @thetinsoldier now.

OP I hope you are ok. It should be raining now around where you are I think, but the smoke is still a concern of course. I just wanted to say that the official alarm system really works. We were in Cap Ferret and got the evacuation messages in the middle of the night. All of us (adults and teens) received them and they were shockingly loud, you could not miss them! (We had half packed already, chucked it all in the car and drove to our next destination basically a day earlier than planned, so we are all ok, just sad for everyone involved really. There was a traffic jam on the way out but all very civilised and once we got close to the fires, not scary. We may have been lucky, I heard it got worse later.)

You poor things, it's scary isn't it? We were on the Presqu'ile by Hyeres a few years ago and we drove round the corner to go to the mainland across the bridge and the whole coast was on fire, it was terrifying! We had friends staying on the mainland so we called them immediately and they had been evacuated. Luckily it didn't hop the causeway so we were ok, I hope they get it under control soon.

I think Bordeaux may be evacuated. In which case your travel insurance may cover you. But keep an eye on French news and check with neighbours. Sorry this has happened, OP, but getting out is more important than money - a fire can suddenly change direction and it moves very fast.

I just read that even Sweden is sending firefighting aircraft to Bordeaux

Not sure about Bordeaux being evacuated. The Prefete is on TV right now and she's not that pessimistic, certainly not ATM.

There was a certainly a bit of a "flap" last night when a fire storm got going, and that, plus the wind direction led to the rapidish decisions to evacuate west of the city, but the change in weather (especially wind direction) has changed the threat access - big problem ATM is around Lacanau, which is well to the west of Bordeaux..

She (and the fire chief sat alongside her) are very keen to point out that they caught a bit of a break last night/and that the problem is far from solved, but ATM there's less talk of the city bring threatened though she still talks of the threat being serious.

BTW in response to a question she confirmed the airport remains open, so not sure what Nunez was talking about last.

Leave, don't hang around until it gets too near

OP I hope you are ok and are able to head somewhere safe and continue your holiday, or head home to UK and take a little break here. Such a scary situation, my heart goes out to everyone affected. We had a holiday curtailed in Canada due to wild fires a few years ago, so know a bit how you feel.

Get some quality masks to wear. Try and arrange to leave asap
Persuade people to reduce the amount of flights that they take and other lifestyle choices that are contributing to this problem
Unfortunately the people that live there can't arrange to leave as easily
Hope you're all ok

Leave

We have arranged to leave and have booked a hotel a couple of hours inland. Leaving tomorrow. Thank you for all the messages and support.

Good luck to you all. What a nightmare. Is your insurance covering this for you or is it just something you've had to arrange for yourselves for now?

Not sure. Rang insurance and they were very non-committal. Of course!!

If anyone had booked holidays via Vrbo, here’s a warning. Vrbo told me I could arrange a price discount with my host. The host said Vrbo told them they’d be charged €2500 plus banned from the website for a while if they cancelled my stay. So we have decided that they will refund us €1000 - which will pay for our new hotel booking.

vrbo don’t care about host or guest as long as they get their fees.