Evacuation Lifted, but France’s Biggest Wildfire Still Burning: 80,000 Displaced

The evacuation order has been lifted in Bordeaux’s wine region. Tens of thousands of people can now go home. But France’s biggest wildfire is still burning 10 miles west of Bordeaux — and it is not out.

The gap between those two facts is the reality across southern France. About 80,000 people remain displaced. An area four times the size of Paris has been scorched. On Wednesday alone, firefighters attacked seven new blazes. Three of them are still raging.

Nowhere captures the loss more than the commune of Leapor, a community of roughly 3,500 people. CBS News identifies it as the most devastated town in this catastrophe. Most of the homes have been demolished and reduced to rubble. Most of its people are gone.

In nearby Lacanau, the threat has moved underground. Surf instructor Neil Seville told CBS News that some fires are burning about a meter beneath the surface — smoldering where they cannot be seen and can reignite without warning. Locals are stepping up to spray every small fire themselves.

George and Amal Clooney are among those who have fled their home.

The weather is improving: cooler temperatures and morning rain have given crews an opening. But the largest fire still burns, three new blazes are still raging, and tens of thousands of people across southern France do not yet know whether they will have a home to return to.