Tens of Thousands Flee Wildfires in France and Spain as Blazes Spread Across Europe

AP

A wall of flames advances as a wildfire burns near Burgohondo, in Ávila province, Spain.

Tens of thousands of people fled devastating wildfires in south-west France by road and boat on Friday, while Spain declared its first-ever national emergency over a wildfire as massive blazes merged on the outskirts of Madrid amid an intense heatwave sweeping across Europe.

French authorities ordered the full evacuation of the Cap Ferret peninsula, a popular tourist destination on the Atlantic coast, as rapidly spreading fires threatened the area. In Spain, officials said two major wildfires had merged outside Madrid, with a third expected to join them.

As firefighters struggled to contain the blazes, both France and Spain requested assistance from the European Union. Spain's declaration of a national emergency unlocked federal funding and additional resources to support efforts to bring the fires under control.

"This is the worst wildfire in our region's history," Madrid's regional leader Isabel Diaz Ayuso said after telling reporters the fires had merged. "It's the perfect storm of very high temperatures and ceaseless winds that aren't letting up."

In France, authorities sent boats to help the evacuation and a total of around 63,000 people were told to get out, officials said. Close by, in the town of ⁠Biscarrosse, another large fire threatened homes.

A wildfire that broke out in Saumos, north of Cap Ferret, is threatening to cut off the peninsula's only access road and has become France's largest blaze of the season, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told local television.

The fire has already scorched around 10,000 hectares (24,700 acres) of forest and destroyed 80 homes, approximately 50 of which have been completely razed, Nunez said.

In Spain, more than 19,000 people were ordered to evacuate towns in the mountains west of Madrid as over 2,000 emergency personnel, supported by 10 aircraft, battled to stop rapidly spreading wildfires from merging, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said.

A third wildfire in the neighbouring province of Ávila was on the verge of joining the two blazes burning near Madrid, or may already have done so, according to Nicanor Sen, the Spanish government's representative for the Castile and León region.

The affected area west of Madrid, where many people from the capital own second homes, is heavily populated. Officials said at least 43 homes had been destroyed in a single residential development.

Grande-Marlaska said the scale of the emergency had prompted the government to declare a national state of emergency, enabling authorities to better coordinate firefighting operations and mobilise additional resources.

The last time Spain declared the same level of emergency was during the nationwide power blackout that affected the country last year.

In the town of Navaluenga in Ávila province, residents wearing face masks because of the heavy smoke watched as firefighting helicopters collected water from the local river to tackle the advancing flames.

More than 29 major wildfires have broken out across Spain so far this year, scorching an area five times larger than at the same stage in 2025, when a record amount of land was destroyed, Environment Minister Sara Aagesen said in a post on social media.

European countries have begun deploying assistance to support firefighting efforts. Greece said it was sending two CL-415 firefighting aircraft to Madrid, where they will operate in the neighbouring province of Toledo, according to the Greek Civil Protection Ministry.

Croatia also announced it had dispatched a Canadair CL-415 firefighting aircraft, along with two flight crews and 11 technical personnel from the Croatian Army, to help France combat the blazes.

Although temperatures are expected to ease briefly over the weekend, forecasts indicate another spell of intense heat will grip France next week, according to Global Forecast System data compiled by LSEG.

The renewed heat is expected to raise river temperatures, potentially affecting water supplies used to cool France's nuclear reactors and prompting further operational restrictions to comply with environmental regulations. Data from EDF showed that the Golfech 2 nuclear reactor in southern France has remained offline since 7 July because of heat-related restrictions.

The prolonged hot weather is also taking a growing toll on agriculture. FranceAgriMer, the country's agricultural agency, said weeks of exceptionally high temperatures have significantly affected the condition of France's maize crop, adding to concerns over this year's harvest in the European Union's largest grain-producing nation.

Source: Reuters



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