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??

Gosh this sounds grim ...don't panic but the army is in its way. Op this is awful .

Gosh I’m sorry you’re caught up in this OP. I agree with getting out now and heading somewhere further east until you know what is happening.

We were on holiday in Biscarosse last year - I’m sad for the residents and the wildlife in the area.

Hope you took everyone with you in the car to the airport. One you've got the final family member you can decide whether to just drive north east for an hour and get a hotel for the night (booking. Com or similar should find you one). Then you can reassess in the morning.

And how will the police send an alert to our phones when we have British phones?? How does that work?

@thetinsoldier You can follow the progression of the fire with : Windy, FIRM, EFFIS, Intent Analytics or Google Maps.

The fires in Spain a couple of weeks ago spread really quickly and people were killed trying to leave.

I would be on my way now tbh.

I'd get out now, don't wait for an evacuation text just get away from the fires and try to find somewhere else to stay, if you wait to be evacuated the roads will be bedlam and any other accommodation will be already booked. 40k is no distance if the winds get worse so just go

Honestly, just go home. You'll hardly be able to relax and enjoy yourselves wondering if you'll have to leave and find new accommodation, checking the news everyday, making grab bags and plans to run.

It's a bit of a shame, but a holiday right now is bottom of the priority list. It's not even on the priority list. And no holiday is worth your health or safety.

And I don't mean this harshly, but from a practical perspective if you go home now you're a few less extra people the emergency services have to think about it if you do get caught out.

Just turn around and go home. A disaster zone is no place to stay and holiday.

Aussie here so pretty used to spending summers watching the bushfire warnings, and if we all fled every time they were within 40km the whole city of 5 million people would be empty all summer.

You should do what the authorities tell you to do and when. Stay when they say to stay, leave when they tell you to leave. If they're asking to you stay, it's because they don't want to deal with evacuees blocking up the roads en masse.

Be as ready as you can be to leave. Have everything you need, devices charged, at least 2 routes and safe places memorised. Long protective clothing and shoes. Car pointing outwards.

That won't matter, you'll still get any alerts. We live in France and when family visited recently we had a test alert. Our UK family's phones all received the alert.

@thetinsoldier no idea but they got it to my phone. 🤷‍♀️

As long as your phone is connected to a French mobile network it will receive the emergency notification.

I don’t know how it works but I’ve had amber alerts when holidaying in the US

Are the roads good there?

I think I would try to relocate. But it depends on your finances for that.

FR-Alert is France’s national public warning system that broadcasts real-time emergency notifications directly to mobile phones located within a specific danger zone. ALL mobile phones.
I would listen to the authorities in this case. They have succesfully evacuated every village concerned so far so they know what they're doing.

It's based on your location, not your SIM.
When we were evacuated due to wildfires a few years ago, my friend visiting from the Caribbean got the alerts the same time us us.

I think I'd be setting an alarm to go off every couple hours bloody shit though.
I couldn't relax with that hanging over me the whole holiday I would probably go home, gutting.. See how things are in the morning if it's any nearer then leave.

I'd just go op.

You are heading to the airport anyway, so stay on the road. It may only be for a night , but it gives you time to assess.

I agree it isn't ideal financially, but at the end of the day even spending a night upright napping in the car somewhere well away would be better than getting caught up in a difficult situation.

Wildfires are such a fast-developing situation and right now it seems at a developmental stage. It might all be over in two days and you can return and make up the financial offset then.

Heartbreaking 😢

Better to leave and then find you didn't need to than stay and find you should have left earlier.

If you wait till you get the warning, the roads will be jammed. They may be jammed already.

Leave before you end up in an emergency situation. It must be quite scary out there.

Agree .

OP, I would ring the 24hr Emergency Line for your travel insurers, so that they can advise.

My Brother is in a shelter for evacuees in a small town outside Bordeaux. Foam mattresses on the floor of a large hall. There's no hotels to be found. If you're safe and 40km a way I'd stay put until you have an actual plan of where to go eg a flight out or somewhere else to stay.