Firefighters in France are battling a massive wildfire near Bordeaux that has consumed an area of land four times the size of Paris, forcing nearly 220,000 people to evacuate the Gironde region. Windy conditions on Saturday night hampered efforts to contain the blaze, which has become extremely virulent and unpredictable.
Blaze approaches Bordeaux metropolitan area
Bordeaux's mayor, Thomas Cazenave, described the Gironde blaze as being at the gates of the metropolitan area, between 15 and 20 miles from the city itself, which has a population of 268,000. He said an evacuation of the city was not on the cards. The fire has burned 42,000 hectares, one of the biggest devastations of land since the second world war, and at least 240 homes have been destroyed.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said on Sunday that the previous night had been difficult and the situation remains very unfavourable. He noted that the Gironde fire became extremely virulent and unpredictable early on Saturday night, generating its own wind and spreading erratically towards the Bordeaux metropolitan area, but had become calmer by the end of the night.
Massive deployment of firefighters and military
About 2,500 firefighters, including a Swiss team, 1,500 military personnel, and about 1,200 police have been deployed to Gironde, Nuñez said, praising the contribution of 450 volunteers from civil security organisations. Another five Gironde municipalities were evacuated overnight.
One firefighter told Agence France-Presse that the fire was so virulent it had formed a pyrocumulonimbus, a fire-generated thunderstorm that creates its own wind, with whirlwinds, becoming erratic and uncontrollable.
Arrests and evacuations in France
Three men were arrested in Gironde on Saturday on suspicion of endangering lives, two of them accused of setting off fireworks. Across France, nearly 260,000 people have been evacuated, including 36,000 ordered to leave another wildfire zone in the Landes region. The Landes fire has consumed 3,600 hectares, and French authorities are also dealing with wildfires in the south-eastern Var region, where 3,000 people have been evacuated, as well as the Hautes-Alpes and Corsica.
Spain also battles wildfires
In Spain, fires west of Madrid were being brought under control, but Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez spoke of difficult hours ahead, saying the country was suffering the effects of the climate emergency. Major areas of the fire near Madrid had been contained and cooled down, according to Lt Col Alfonso Arribas of Spain's military emergencies unit.
However, a new fire near the Mediterranean port city of Valencia forced at least 15,000 people to evacuate. The Valencia region's president, Juanfran Pérez Llorca, said the fire was beyond their capacity to extinguish, with a perimeter of about 21 km. Authorities also ordered the evacuation of eight more municipalities near Toledo, bringing the number of people forced to flee their homes by wildfires in Spain in recent days to 116,000.
National emergency declared in Spain
The situation prompted the Spanish government to declare a national emergency over a wildfire for the first time. Spain's interior ministry said a man had died in a fire in the Valencian town of Manises, found in a car in a ravine. Spain's environment ministry reported 32 major fires affecting 152,678 hectares so far in 2026, compared with seven affecting 24,133 hectares in the same period in 2025.
Climate crisis fuels unprecedented wildfire season
The blazes are the latest episode in a summer of wildfires that threaten to burn an unprecedented expanse of land. Europe has endured a series of heatwaves since the spring, fuelled by the climate crisis, including the hottest-ever June, leaving vegetation tinder dry. The EU commissioner for crisis management, Hadja Lahbib, told the BBC it was likely that damage from wildfires would exceed previous records, noting that last year one million hectares burned during the summer and forecasters predict another heatwave.
French Prime Minister Sébastian Lecornu warned late on Saturday that the coming hours would be difficult as the weather changed, stating that France is facing a historic situation with nearly 100,000 hectares already burned and around thirty fires simultaneously active across the territory.
Shelter and economic impact
An exhibition centre in Bordeaux has been turned into an emergency shelter, providing camp beds and food for thousands of people, including hundreds of older people evacuated from care homes. Cazenave said he had asked the central government for an economic crisis plan for the area because many businesses and workers had been evacuated and the tourism industry had been heavily affected. He said it was impossible to say when people could return to their homes, as the crisis could last several days or weeks.
Firefighters are battling to slow the fire's progression toward Bordeaux from the ground and air, with planes dropping water and retardants. Jérôme Steffe, the mayor of Cestas commune, 10 miles from Bordeaux city centre, told French media that they are working together to put in place a firewall to block the advance of the flames.
