Spain and France are preparing for another punishing heatwave, with temperatures expected to exceed 40°C in several regions. Spain’s national weather service has warned that the extreme conditions will persist until at least Sunday, posing an “extreme” risk of fire as crews continue to battle some of the most devastating blazes in the country’s history.
In southwestern France, the Gironde and Landes regions have been placed under a “yellow alert” for a heatwave that is forecast to peak on Wednesday, further complicating efforts to control what officials have described as “very unpredictable” fires. The mayor of Bordeaux, Thomas Cazenave, stated that the city is preparing for “all eventualities” as one of the wildfires burns just 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the city. “We are preparing to accommodate a large number of people should further evacuations be ordered,” he said.
So far, approximately 220,000 people have been evacuated in France, alongside more than 100,000 in Spain, where fires continue to burn uncontrollably west of Madrid. President Emmanuel Macron, who visited the fire-ravaged Gironde region, called the situation a “completely unprecedented wildfire” and the toughest since the Second World War. While he noted that a smaller fire in the neighbouring Landes region had been contained, he cautioned that the fight in Gironde was far from over. “Temperatures are set to rise again, the wind is still present, and therefore we must remain humble,” Macron said.
Earlier, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez remarked that the fire “has a life of its own”. Jérôme Steffe, the mayor of Cestas—a town south of Bordeaux—told the BBC that this “will be the fire of the century”. He described how 17,000 residents were evacuated from his town overnight when the fire intensified two days ago. To date, the region has seen 42,000 hectares (103,000 acres) of land scorched and 240 homes destroyed. “In my city the situation is really catastrophic,” he added. Although the fire’s advance has slowed, Steffe warned that his teams have “won only a small battle”, with the threat of flying embers or sudden wind shifts remaining acute. “We put all our energy into creating protective firebreaks,” he explained, “but we are all scared in front of this situation.”
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has described this as “an unprecedented fire season” for France, with 116,085 hectares (286,852 acres) burned and 13,566 fire outbreaks recorded since January. In a post on X, he disclosed that nine out of ten fires are human-caused, “most arising from carelessness: a cigarette butt, a barbecue, work carried out without precaution”. However, he added that not all are accidental—some are deliberately set—and that 162 arrests have been made since 6 July.
Wildfires are also raging in several other French regions, including Var and Landes, as well as Haute-Corse on the island of Corsica. Meanwhile, Spain entered its fifth day of a national emergency on Monday due to fierce fires west of Madrid. BBC Verify has analysed satellite imagery showing the rapid spread of the blaze, which has now affected more than 27,000 hectares. Images captured on 24 and 26 July reveal how several separate fires in the Almorox, Villa del Prado, and San Martín de Valdeiglesias areas merged into a single massive fire, with the burn scar expanding dramatically over just two days. Local officials have warned that the region is facing the worst fires in its history.
Climate change continues to drive rising temperatures globally, and Europe remains one of the fastest-warming continents, exacerbating the frequency and intensity of such extreme weather events.
