France restricts – As a major heat wave pushes parts of Europe into dangerous conditions, France has issued wildfire alerts, limited public alcohol, and canceled some outdoor events—including Music Day—while authorities ramp up protections for the most vulnerable.
PARIS — In a country where air-conditioning isn’t widespread, the heat arriving this weekend is forcing authorities to think like firefighters and medics at the same time.
France is putting emergency services and military forces on wildfire alert. restricting public alcohol consumption. and canceling some outdoor sports events as a heat wave unfolds across parts of Europe. About a third of France is under the national weather service’s heat red alert Sunday. with temperatures expected to reach 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in some areas. and even hotter conditions forecast for Monday.
In Paris, the Eiffel Tower and other venues have set up misting stations to cool crowds. The measures come after the World Health Organization’s Europe office said this month that more than 200. 000 people across Europe died from heat-related causes over the last four years. most of them preventable. WHO’s Europe office called for countries and institutions to act through heat plans that include opening cooling centers and building breaks or flexible shifts that keep workers out of the midday sun.
Elsewhere in Europe. Italy expanded heat warnings referred to locally as “red flags” from seven to eight cities for Sunday. covering northern and central areas out of the 27 monitored nationally by Italy’s health ministry. Temperatures in the “red” cities are mostly in the upper-30s C (high 90s to low 100s F). In northern Italy. a farm outside Milan installed fans and sprinklers to keep cows cool. while in Rome tourists dunked their arms and sometimes their faces into the city’s fountain pools.
France’s government is also laser-focused on the moment when heat and crowds collide. The country’s annual Music Day on Sunday is drawing extra concern: the summer solstice celebration brings thousands of concerts into village squares. rave venues. and Paris clubs. increasingly pulling international visitors.
The government banned public drinking in “red alert” zones and ordered organizers of Music Day events to limit alcohol use “to preserve emergency services and allow medics to concentrate on taking care of the most vulnerable.” Authorities are especially worried about people living in baking streets and elderly people in nursing homes or isolated in their homes. France is still carrying the memory of its 2003 heat wave, when about 15,000 older people died.
Beyond medical preparation, officials are tightening other pressure points. The government announced Saturday reinforced wildfire readiness and ordered tightened surveillance of water supplies for France’s many nuclear reactors. Schools. the government said. will only be closed as a last recourse; end-of-year exams held in the afternoons may be delayed until the following morning or otherwise rearranged.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu convened a government heat crisis meeting on Saturday and plans another one Sunday. responding to what France’s national weather service called a “widespread. long-lasting and intense” hot spell. Lecornu also ordered ministers to plan for better ways to adapt France to heat waves in the future. including “via air conditioning. if necessary.”.
France heat wave wildfire alert public alcohol restriction Music Day elderly deaths 2003 cooling stations emergency services