Wildfires sweeping across France and Spain have triggered a mass exodus at the height of the summer holiday season, with more than 200,000 people forced from their homes, campsites and holiday lets.
In France alone, more than 140,000 people have been evacuated as huge blazes rip through the country’s southwest, according to the interior ministry.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told TF1 television that the figure covers the period since Wednesday, when the fires escalated into what he described as a “completely unprecedented” situation.
France has never faced fires of this type on such a scale, Mr Nunez said, explaining that they were convective fires — blazes that create their own air currents, pushing heat across wider areas and accelerating their spread.
His ministry said 110,000 people were moved to safety in the Gironde region, home to the major city of Bordeaux, while 31,000 were evacuated in neighbouring Landes.
With Europe in peak vacation season, the evacuations have affected both residents and large numbers of holidaymakers.
Officials in Gironde said the flames destroyed 100 buildings and scorched 19,000 hectares (47,000 acres).
Mr Nunez said authorities would “do everything to protect” Bordeaux, where the total urban population is close to one million.
Holidaymakers from Lege-Cap-Ferret being evacuated by boat
The fire has already devastated 8,700 hectares and is still raging.
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Across southern Europe, wildfires driven by extreme heat and strong winds have hit parts of Italy, France and Spain, sending thousands fleeing from smoke and advancing flames.
Three firefighters have been killed as the region endures intense temperatures, topping 40C in some places.
France’s southeast has also been badly affected, with dozens of fires breaking out and being stoked by the mistral wind near the historic village of Cotignac. Officials said around 25 houses had been destroyed there since Tuesday.
In Le Porge, skies turned orange as smoke rose from blackened pine forests, and helicopters repeatedly flew over neighbourhoods that had been cleared of residents.
The same forest suffered extensive damage in 2022, when about 50,000 people were evacuated.
Near Bordeaux, officials said more than 20,000 people — largely tourists staying in campsites and holiday rentals — have been evacuated since Wednesday as a fire tore through a coastal pine forest.
Authorities said the blaze had been contained on its northern flank, but remained not fully under control farther south.
Two firefighters died on Tuesday while fighting another fire near Bordeaux airport.
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63,000 people told to evacuate or shelter in Madrid region
In Spain, the interior ministry said 63,000 people have now been evacuated or ordered to remain indoors because of what officials describe as the worst wildfires the Madrid region has ever experienced.
The latest operation involved evacuating 5,000 holidaymakers from a campsite in El Escorial, northwest of the capital, the ministry said.
Officials said strong winds and searing temperatures have complicated efforts to contain the flames, which have destroyed dozens of homes and led to the closure of several roads.
Two separate wind-driven fires merged on Friday into a single massive blaze, and officials said it was close to joining another fire in neighbouring Castilla y Leon.
“The smoke was incredibly thick. You couldn’t breathe,” Jose Cobos told private broadcaster Antena 3 after fleeing with his wife and three dogs.
Spanish authorities today ordered a further 7,000 people to evacuate from two additional localities west of Madrid under threat from the fires.
Emergency alerts were sent to residents’ phones in the affected villages. The latest move follows earlier orders affecting 19,000 people in the Madrid region, who were told either to leave or to stay inside with doors and windows sealed.
Spain’s Guardia Civil said it had arrested a man accused of starting the Madrid-region fire by using a farm vehicle despite a ban during dangerously dry conditions. Another person is being investigated over the same incident.
Carlos Novillo, the Madrid regional government’s emergency management chief, said conditions were “expected to improve” overnight, with lower temperatures and higher humidity forecast for tomorrow.
Even so, central government delegate Francisco Martin Aguirre said the outlook remained “very complicated”.
“Forecasts indicate that the wind will continue and, consequently, through this evening the fire could continue to advance,” he said, adding that more evacuations and confinement measures could still be ordered.
Wildfire rages overnight in Burgohondo, Spain
Isabel Diaz Ayuso, the head of the Madrid regional government, said the crisis marked the worst wildfire in the region’s history.
“The situation is completely unusual and catastrophic,” she said, stressing that the priority was “to save lives”.
The fire has so far burned about 6,000 hectares (15,000 acres) in the Madrid region, an area with a high concentration of homes
Spain’s largest blaze is burning on the far side of Madrid in Guadalajara province, about 100km north of the capital, where it has devastated 32,000 hectares since last Thursday.
“Climate change is what kills, what destroys our villages and our natural and cultural heritage,” civil protection chief Virginia Barcones told Spanish radio.
She warned some fires become so intense that, even with aircraft and crews deployed on the ground, firefighters have “no chance”.
Ms Barcones said the situation at the Guadalajara fire was improving, though she cautioned that strong winds and extreme heat continued to pose a serious risk.
People evacuated from the municipality of Aldea del Fresno shelter at a local sports centre
In a post on X, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez urged people to show “great caution” and to follow official instructions.
So far this year, nearly 125,000 hectares (309,000 acres) have burned in Spain, compared with 393,000 across the whole of last year, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).
In Italy, thousands of emergency workers were battling dozens of fires in Sicily and the Calabria region, where a local official said arsonists had ignited blazes.
Italy’s interior minister said one firefighter died this week after becoming ill while fighting fires in Sicily.
Read more:
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Walking outside in Malaga in 40C ‘like opening an oven door’
Wildfires, heatwaves and air-con: Europe’s climate reality
