Hundreds of firefighters are battling wildfires in France and Spain after strong winds drove the blazes towards Bordeaux and smoke prompted health warnings in Madrid. Authorities in both countries said more than 250,000 people have been forced to evacuate as they struggle to contain the fires.
About 70,000 people were evacuated from central Spain, while 197,000 people fled in France, including tens of thousands from the wine region city of Bordeaux. Spain declared a national emergency over the fires, the first time the country has ever done so over a wildfire.
How are firefighters responding to the blazes?
Hundreds of firefighters have worked to contain the blazes, which have been fuelled by a persistent heatwaves and the climate crisis, but were still unable to stop their advance. In Spain, high winds were exacerbating the fires, and two of the three merged on Friday.
France’s interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, said a huge military cargo plane, the Airbus A400M Atlas, was being deployed to join 18 other aircraft in the “long and very difficult” battle against wildfires in the Gironde region of south-western France.
The French government has called in the military to help and has rushed 1.5m face masks to help protect people from smoke inhalation. Fire crews have also been digging trenches, as well as using retardants, as winds were forecast to push the fires closer to Bordeaux. were reported to be about 20 miles west of the city.
The French government ordered people in the path of the fire to evacuate, including people from Bordeaux’s western suburbs. Police went door to door to tell people to leave as scenes of panic unfolded as residents fled their homes under a sky darkened by smoke.
People evacuated from their homes have been taken to shelters as the crisis continues.
The Bordeaux-Lac Exhibition Centre has been turned into a shelter for people displaced by the wildfires, with evacuated residents gathering there as the emergency response expanded.
The Gironde regional prefect, Sophie Brocas, said on Friday that strong winds were driving the fire towards the Bordeaux metro area and that it had grown to “an unprecedented magnitude”.
Officials said the sudden blazes caught residents and authorities off guard. In France, people had to flee by boat when the flames headed towards towns on the coast. Lecornu said that the fire in Gironde was so strong that it had begun generating its own winds.
“The fires that are hitting our country have reached a level that has never been seen before,” the French prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, said on X. “Our priority is clear: protecting human lives.” He urged people to obey evacuation orders “without delay”.
What is the situation in Madrid?
The Spanish health minister instructed people in Madrid not to go outside over concern of the poor air quality from smoke.
“Avoid physical activity and staying outdoors. If you go outdoors and there is smoke or ash, use a mask,” Monica Garcia said on X.
Nobody has died from the wildfires in either France or Spain, but dozens of French firefighters have been injured.
“We want everyone to be quickly brought to safety. We must act quickly together,” Brocas said.
Why are the fires so severe?
The long, back-to-back heatwaves in have dried forests out, turning them into tinder for wildfires. Fires had already consumed 130,000 hectares (321,000 acres) of forest this year in Spain, about a third higher than the country’s annual average, Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said on Saturday.
Scientists say climate breakdown is triggering more frequent and more extreme weather events, evaporating soils and waterways, fuelling wildfires and leading to . Europe is heating at about twice the global average rate.
Sánchez said that cooler weather on Saturday gave a “window of opportunity” for firefighters to help contain the blazes.
Firefighters in both countries continued to work in difficult conditions as the fires spread and emergency crews tried to keep pace with changing weather and fire behaviour.
Other European countries were helping both countries fight the blazes, with Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal, Croatia, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic sending aid and water-dumping aircraft to Spain and France.
How is Europe assisting France and Spain?
The EU commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, promised more help was on the way.
“Europe stands alongside France and Spain in the face of the devastating wildfires ravaging them. Five planes and two helicopters from the rescue fleet are now deployed in France and four planes are arriving in Spain today,” von der Leyen said in a post on X.
Firefighters on a support line between the villages of Lacanau and Saint-Helene in the Bordeaux region continued efforts to hold back the flames as the operation extended across the affected area.
Authorities in both countries said they would continue evacuations and firefighting efforts as conditions remained difficult, with strong winds, smoke and high temperatures complicating the response. The fires have spread across large areas of forest and threatened communities near Bordeaux and beyond, while health warnings remained in place in Madrid.
Key Facts
- More than 250,000 people have evacuated in France and Spain.
- Spain declared a national emergency over the wildfires, its first for a wildfire.
- 197,000 people fled in France, including tens of thousands from Bordeaux.
- 70,000 people were evacuated from central Spain.
- Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal, Croatia, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic sent aid and aircraft.
