MOSCOW, July 25 (HS/RIA Novosti) - More than 141,000 people have been evacuated as rapidly spreading wildfires sweep southwestern France, with the military deployed to assist firefighting efforts, French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Saturday.

The fires affecting our country have reached an unprecedented level. More than 141,000 people have already been evacuated in the southwestern departments of Gironde and Landes to ensure their safety, the prime minister said on X.

Around 500 troops have been deployed to assist firefighters, with their number set to increase to 1,000, he said.

Military medical services have also been mobilized, and around 1.5 million FFP2 protective masks will be sent to the affected areas, the prime minister added.

On Friday, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said that wildfires had burned more than 50,000 hectares (123,500 acres) since the beginning of the year. Two major fires in the southwestern departments of Gironde and Landes have posed particular challenges, he said.

France’s forests have been engulfed by wildfires amid an extreme heatwave. French President Emmanuel Macron previously said the country had experienced a record number of wildfires this summer, the highest since the end of World War II.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Indrani Sarkar