French PM heckled over wildfire response as blazes continue across Europe

Image source, AFP via Getty ImagesImage caption, Lecornu attended a meeting in Merignac on Monday after being booed by residents in Le PorgeByJoe CoughlanPublished28 minutes agoFrench Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has been heckled on a visit to the area of the country worst hit by wildfires, as blazes continue to cause further deaths and evacuations across Europe.About 200 people gathered at the town hall in Le Porge, south-western France, on Monday, where 183 homes burned down.The organiser of a group of affected residents accused the prime minister of not wanting to meet them, while Lecornu's office it has "nothing to hide" about how fire operations have been conducted, AFP reports.The prime minister announced €12m (£10.3m) of aid for the Gironde and Landes regions, while the EU deployed assistance to Belgium and Spain.Lecornu said the aid, of which €10m (£8.5m) will go to Gironde and €2m (£1.7m) to Landes, will allow local authorities to "launch projects without delay" and build "a sort of recovery plan". He also announced building permits for the "equivalent reconstruction" of homes destroyed by the fires would be issued within a month, or even quicker.Ludivine Daurignac, the organiser of the residents' group, told the news agency the residents plan to file complaints to get "truth, transparency, and justice" and claimed they were blocked from meeting with the prime minister.She said: "We were met by lines of riot police blocking our access."Another local told France's BFM outlet: "We would like to know why the fire was managed this way. Why all the firefighters who were on site left to defend the tip of Ferret, while only the volunteer firefighters remained."Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from the Cap Ferret peninsula tourist spot west of Bordeaux last month as wildfires were spreading across Gironde.Firefighters throughout the rest of Europe have been facing a series of blazes over the weekend, including officers in Belgium spending a fourth day beating back flames in the country's largest nature reserve Hautes Fagnes.Image source, ReutersImage caption, Resources from other EU countries have been sent to assist firefighting efforts in BelgiumBelgian authorities said on Monday the fire had continued to spread during the night but remained limited due to "more favourable winds and rainfall".The statement added that two police helicopters and several air support resources from the Netherlands, Germany, Norway and Sweden were expected to assist teams on the ground.Officials said on Sunday the wildfire had more than doubled in size in 24 hours, with the blaze being described as the largest in Belgium's recent history.Greece's fire service said on Monday that 41 forest fires had broken out in the past 24 hours, of which three were continuing to be dealt with.It asked residents to take particular care and follow the instructions of authorities in the event of a fire.Two people died and hundreds were evacuated after two fires broke out "almost simultaneously" on a Greek island near Athens on Sunday afternoon, officials said.About 200 firefighters were deployed to keep the twin fires from converging on the island of Salamina, which was under a high wildfire risk on Sunday.Image source, EPA/ShutterstockImage caption, Planes were seen carrying out operations to extinguish fires on Greece's Salamina Island on SundaySpain's president of the Aragón region announced on Sunday that a soldier had died in the Peñas de Riglos fire, while flames continued to rage on Portugal's border with Spain.The European Commission said on Monday 104 firefighters with 36 vehicles from France had come to assist Spanish authorities in Aragón, where nearly 16,000 hectares have burnt.Meanwhile, Croatian police on Monday said they had arrested four people on suspicion of starting fires across 10 locations in the city of Zadar.At least one person died and dozens were injured in a wildfire that tore through the country's coastline overnight on Friday.It was described by Croatia's fire chief Slavko Tucakovic as "one of the worst" blazes in the country's history and saw around 1,200 residents and tourists evacuated.The EU's climate monitoring service Copernicus has confirmed that western Europe experienced its hottest June-to-July period on record.Related topicsWildfiresFranceBelgiumSpainPortugalCroatiaEurope