As wildfires blazed on the Cap Ferret peninsula in south-west France in July, some people left by boat. The roads out run through dense pine plantation, the fire had reached them, and the gendarmerie put those without cars onto ferries.

Around 44,000 people fled Cap Ferret, a stretch of oyster villages and holiday homes an hour from Bordeaux. Bordeaux airport was shut. Across France, about 250,000 were moved. Meanwhile, Spain declared a national emergency over wildfires in Madrid and Ávila.

Neither country is somewhere the Foreign Office tells you not to go. Its advice for France and Spain is to follow local instructions and speak to your accommodation provider.

So if you fly this month, the trip is on. But even if you are insured, you can still lose the money. What decides that is mostly a decision you made when you booked.

Catastrophe as an extra

Wildfires divide travel insurance protection into two parts. Emergency medical treatment for smoke inhalation or heat-related illness is generally covered under standard travel insurance. Possessions lost or necessarily abandoned during an evacuation are also likely to be covered, subject to policy limits and exclusions. However,........

© The Conversation