Live updates: France wildfires may not be out for months; flames rage near Madrid and Bordeaux

Several important strategic sites linked to France’s defense industry and nuclear deterrent, lie close to the wildfires currently ripping through the area to the west of Bordeaux.

Western Bordeaux, the area of the city most exposed to the wildfires, has a high concentration of defense and aerospace industries.

Factories integral to the production and fueling of France’s M51 submarine-launched ballistic missiles – are located in Le Haillan and Saint-Médard-en-Jalles, two of the areas pre-emptively evacuated by authourities on Saturday.

ArianeGroup, the aerospace and defense company which owns those factories, told CNN all affected sites have been evacuated “and all necessary measures have been taken to secure them.” The company is working closely with local and national authorities, it added.

The research center which hosts France’s Laser Mégajoule – a huge device which simulates nuclear tests – is also located near Bordeaux. The facility, which has no nuclear material and poses no radiological risk, has been completely closed due to the wildfires, France’s Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) told CNN. Its local security teams are mobilized and can be reinforced if necessary, the CEA added.

Protecting sites like these from the wildfires is the second most important priority for firefighters after saving lives, said Marc Vemeuelen, director of Gironde’s Fire and Rescue Service, yesterday.

And firefighters have undertaken “earthworks and engineering work around a number of sensitive sites to create firebreaks, to remove any vegetation cover to ensure the fire had no fuel there,” the prefect of Gironde, Sophie Brocas, said in a press conference on Saturday, according to CNN affiliate BFMTV.

The French army added earlier today that experts and resources are being deployed to secure industrial sites as part of the firefighting efforts in the area.

CNN’s Laura Paddison contributed reporting