Wildfires ravage France and Spain: over 300,000 people evacuated
Massive forest fires have hit regions around Bordeaux and Madrid, with firefighters warning of the danger of fire fronts merging. An area of nearly 70,000 hectares has been burned.
Massive forest fires have hit regions around Bordeaux and Madrid, with firefighters warning of the danger of fire fronts merging. An area of nearly 70,000 hectares has been burned.
More than 300,000 people have been evacuated from France and Spain due to catastrophic forest fires sweeping across southwestern Europe, with firefighters and authorities warning on Sunday, July 26, 2026, that the situation is still not under control. In France alone, 220,000 people have been evacuated since Wednesday, while in Spain's Madrid region, 60,000 residents have been evacuated.
The Gironde prefecture announced on Sunday morning that the estimated burned area in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region has reached 42,000 hectares. The fire, which threatens the suburbs of Bordeaux, is so intense that according to firefighters in the Gironde department, contacted by AFP, it has triggered a phenomenon called "pyrocumulonimbus," where the fire "creates its own wind, with whirlwinds, becoming an irregular and uncontrollable" mass of flames. Due to the fire, the A63 motorway between Bordeaux and Spain has been closed for 60 kilometers. On Saturday evening, an evacuation was ordered for Cestas, a town of 55,000 residents near Bordeaux. The French military had deployed a total of 1,500 soldiers to fight the fires by Saturday.
In Spain on Friday, July 24, two separate forest fires west of Madrid merged into a single massive blaze, which has devastated 25,000 hectares and was on the verge of merging with a fire in the neighboring region of Castile and León. Authorities ordered the evacuation of eight towns in the Toledo region on Saturday evening. One person died in a fire near Valencia in eastern Spain, which has since been brought under control.
Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska warned journalists on Saturday about the severity of the situation. "Today we are a bit more pessimistic than yesterday. The weather conditions, as you saw during the day, have not helped at all. The night does not look very promising; it will not be easy for us," the minister said. Authorities feared further merging of fire fronts, which would dramatically complicate firefighting efforts.
In addition to the fire in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, another large fire is actively burning in southeastern France, in the Var department, where 3,250 hectares have been burned in five days. The island of Corsica has also been battling a fire in Haute-Corse for several days, which has affected more than 800 hectares in the Corté area, with firefighters struggling to contain it.
Forests are catching fire more easily because vegetation and soil in Europe have been exceptionally dry for months, and the situation has been worsened by heatwaves that hit the continent in June and July 2026, causing even more water to evaporate from the ground. Experts warn that such extreme weather conditions are becoming more common and create ideal conditions for the rapid spread of fires that are difficult to control with conventional firefighting methods.
