Out-of-control forest fires are currently devastating regions in south-western France and central Spain, resulting in large-scale evacuations and the deployment of military resources in both nations. In France, the situation has reached a critical point near Bordeaux, where the total number of evacuated individuals has climbed to 110,000. Prior to this, thousands of residents had already fled the tourist-heavy Cap Ferret peninsula on the Atlantic coast.
The primary blaze in the region, which began near Cap Ferret on Wednesday, has scorched 125 square kilometres. Approximately 1,500 people were forced to escape the peninsula by sea, utilizing water taxis and ferries to reach Arcachon. Within the Gironde department alone, 44,000 people have been evacuated, with 53 homes and a campsite reported destroyed, and 42 firefighters sustaining injuries. An additional 23,000 residents were evacuated from the neighbouring Landes department due to a separate 25-square-kilometre fire. Laurent Moretti, a resident of Arès, described the event as an unprecedented and frightening scale of evacuation, expressing hope that containment efforts will succeed quickly.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez reported that there are currently 32 active wildfires in the country, with over 50,000 hectares burned since January—nearly three times the total recorded last year. The French Prime Minister has officially requested army assistance to support firefighting operations on the ground.
Across the border, Spain has declared a national emergency for wildfires for the first time. The Spanish Minister of the Interior is now directly coordinating firefighting resources, while the Military Emergency Unit leads on-the-ground operations. High temperatures exceeding 39°C and powerful winds have complicated efforts, fueling multiple fires. Two major blazes west of Madrid merged to char 30 square kilometres, displacing 18,000 people, while a separate fire in Ávila consumed 90 square kilometres and forced 1,500 to flee. Authorities subsequently ordered the evacuation of 7,000 more people from two additional localities west of Madrid. In total, approximately 60,000 people in the Madrid and Ávila regions have been affected by evacuation orders or stay-at-home directives.
Although the La Mierla fire in Guadalajara—the largest in Spain at 32,000 hectares—has begun to subside, the national toll remains severe. Total burned area in Spain has doubled in just two weeks, reaching nearly 120,000 hectares this year. Spanish police have arrested one man in Castilla y León for violating a ban on using farm machinery, and a second individual is currently under investigation. Wildfire analyst Raúl Quílez attributed the severity of these blazes to a combination of climate change and rural land abandonment.
Both nations have turned to the European Union for assistance. France is set to receive aerial support from Croatia, Portugal, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. Spain is being supported by four water-dumping aircraft from Italy and Greece, alongside the Copernicus satellite system. Meanwhile, Sicily is also facing wildfire threats, where temperatures above 40°C have caused evacuations and resulted in the death of a firefighter in Caltanissetta. According to WHO Europe, wildfires are becoming increasingly frequent, with Portugal and Spain reporting a 100% increase in activity compared to 2025. Data from the European Forest Fire Information System indicates that 254,388 hectares have burned by 22 July this year, following a record 2.2 million hectares destroyed last year.
