Gironde wildfires pick up as French region braces for new 40C heatwave

One of the wildfires burning on Monday was 15km (9 miles) from the periphery of Bordeaux, where the air quality has deteriorated dramatically in recent days."By Sunday evening everything had really begun to empty out," a holidaymaker from Essex told the BBC, adding that the air was "really smoky" with bits of ash. "People were staying indoors, so it was eerie, and very sad."The majority of residents and tourists were wearing masks and the smell of smoke clung on to clothes for days, she said. A firefighter "got a round of applause" as he walked through the Marché Chartrons square in Bordeaux where restaurants were having to close their doors because of the ash in the air, she added."The city has been very quiet," said Graham White, president of the Bordeaux-british-community" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="173367" data-entity-type="organization">Bordeaux British Community. "The shops, restaurants and cafes are fairly empty... Interestingly on Sunday when there was still smoke, there were people brave enough to sit outside on terraces."White, who has been living in the area for several years, said this sort of event had not occurred before and was "something significant". But some news reports had suggested the situation in Bordeaux was "akin to being the next Great Fire of London", which was not the case, White added.