Approximately 300,000 people have been forced from their homes in France and Spain as massive wildfires burn across the region.
Among those affected is Rebecca Papin, a Tennessee woman, who is trapped in her vacation home with her two children in southwestern France.
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More than 2,500 firefighters are actively battling France’s largest fire of the year, which poses a threat to the wine city of Bordeaux. European scientists attribute the destructive fires to record-breaking heat and drought conditions, with last month marking Western Europe’s hottest June ever.
Papin, a resident of Tennessee, described the precarious situation from her trapped location in southwestern France. “Where I am, this enormous forest that takes 45 minutes to drive through to get to the airport and then the airport. And the entire enormous forest is on fire, and there’s only one road that goes through the forest.
There’s only one road, and that road is on fire,” Papin said. Her vacation home is isolated by a burning forest, making escape routes impassable.
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