Massive wildfires sweeping across southwestern France and central Spain have forced more than 267,000 people to flee their homes, as authorities struggle to contain the blazes despite a large-scale emergency response.
In France, about 197,000 people were evacuated from areas around Bordeaux, including popular holiday destinations packed with tourists. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez described the operation as “probably” the largest peacetime evacuation in the country’s history.
In neighbouring Spain, around 70,000 residents were evacuated from communities west of Madrid as wildfires spread rapidly across the region. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who visited the affected areas, said the government’s immediate priority was to protect lives.
“The priority is to save lives,” Sánchez said during his visit.
The smoke from the fires blanketed Madrid, with AFP journalists reporting a thick brown-grey haze over the capital and black ash covering rooftops. Residents were forced to keep their windows shut as smoke filled the air.
Among those displaced was 38-year-old Jacqueline Villafranca, who fled the village of Navalagamella with her husband and two daughters.
“When the smoke came into the village, I thought everything was going to burn — the house and everything,” she said from a temporary shelter in Madrid. “Here you can breathe normally. Yesterday it was unbearable.”
Firefighters in both countries have battled the flames around the clock for several days, but dry conditions and strong winds have made containment difficult. Although officials reported that some of the fires had eased in intensity overnight, they warned the situation remained critical.
No civilian deaths have been reported, but two French firefighters lost their lives earlier this week while battling the blaze near Bordeaux.
Nuñez said the Gironde wildfire was less intense than initially feared and had ceased behaving like a self-sustaining convective fire.
Spanish authorities also reported that cooler overnight conditions had helped slow the spread of the flames, though they cautioned that changing wind conditions could quickly worsen the situation.
“We are going to have some complex hours ahead because although the temperatures have gone down, we do not know exactly how the wind will develop or how strong it will be,” Sánchez warned.
The wildfires have been fuelled by prolonged heatwaves and severe drought conditions that have affected both countries since May. Scientists have repeatedly linked rising global temperatures to more frequent and intense heatwaves, droughts and wildfires, with Europe regarded as the world’s fastest-warming continent.
Both France and Spain are receiving support from the European Union through the deployment of firefighting aircraft from other member states.
France has mobilised 1,000 soldiers to assist firefighting operations near Bordeaux and has deployed an A400M military transport aircraft modified to drop up to 20 tonnes of fire retardant, alongside a fleet of water-bombing aircraft.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu also convened another emergency government meeting on Saturday to assess the evolving crisis.
Additional firefighting reinforcements have been dispatched from Paris, including 100 firefighters, joining personnel and equipment already deployed to the southwest.
Emergency shelters have been established in schools, gymnasiums and exhibition centres to accommodate thousands of displaced residents and tourists.
Irish tourist Nuala Kelly, 75, described the disaster as unlike anything she had experienced.
“I’ve never seen anything like this, and I’ve travelled all over the world,” she said from a temporary shelter in Bordeaux.
French resident Olivier Stewart, who evacuated the village of Mérignac with his wife and young children, said the emotional toll on families had been significant.
“The children are the most stressed. They think the fire is going to burn down the house, but we’re coping,” he said.
