France and Spain wildfires force 92,000 out as EU aid arrives

Arcachon,UPDATED: Jul 24, 2026 23:50 IST

Large wildfires burned out of control in south-western France and central Spain on Friday, forcing an estimated 92,000 people to leave their homes as authorities struggled to contain multiple blazes. In France, some residents escaped by boat after flames swept across the tourist-heavy Cap Ferret peninsula on the Atlantic coast, while in Spain the government declared a national emergency over the fires for the first time.

Dozens of firefighters were injured, but no deaths were reported in France or Spain. Both countries sought help from other European Union members as strong winds, heat and difficult terrain hampered firefighting operations.

In France, a fire that has been burning since Wednesday near Cap Ferret had destroyed 125 square kilometres. The peninsula, around 60 kilometres from Bordeaux, is known for its beaches, landscapes, oyster-farming villages and resorts. About 67,000 people in France were evacuated after authorities also ordered more people to leave areas further south, where a separate wildfire broke out.

Resident Laurent Moretti from the town of Ars said, "It's quite impressive and even frightening. An evacuation on this scale has never happened before. All we really hope is that the firefighters can quickly get it under control." More than 20,000 people had already been evacuated from towns and holiday resorts on Thursday. The latest evacuations were carried out by road, with boat shuttles used for those who could not travel on their own.

Authorities in the Gironde department said 53 homes and a campsite were destroyed by the flames, and 42 firefighters were injured. Around 1,500 people who fled the peninsula reached the city of Arcachon by sea, some in small water taxis and others in larger boats.

Hundreds of French firefighters were deployed, and more teams and aircraft were sent on Friday to tackle the blaze. Another major fire further south along the coast destroyed 25 square kilometres and was still not under control. Strong winds made the work harder. Authorities believe both fires were caused accidentally. France said 44,000 people had been evacuated in Gironde and 23,000 in Landes.

French President Emmanuel Macron said France would receive EU reinforcements, including two Croatian Canadair firefighting aircraft, two Portuguese Air Tractor aircraft, and two heavy-lift Black Hawk helicopters from the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said Italy and Greece were each sending two Canadair water-dumping aircraft.

In Spain, fires in Madrid and the nearby province of vila led to the evacuation of around 25,000 people from towns west of the capital. The fires were being driven by a heatwave, with temperatures expected to rise above 39 degrees Celsius in parts of the country. Two major fires near Madrid merged into one blaze that had burned 30 square kilometres by Friday afternoon. Regional President Isabel Daz-Ayuso called it the worst fire in Madrid's history.

Francisco Martn, the central government's representative in the Madrid region, said another 20,000 people had been told to stay indoors in towns west of the capital. He said more evacuations might follow and that the immediate priority was to protect the town of San Lorenzo, home to the Escorial, the 16th-century royal palace and monastery of Philip II.

In vila, less than two hours north-west of Madrid, another blaze burned 90 square kilometres and forced 1,500 more people to flee. Spain's Civil Guard arrested one man and was investigating another for allegedly using heavy machinery in an area where it was banned because of fire risk. Police believe a spark started the fire on Thursday. Francisco Martnez, the mayor of Burgohondo in vila, told national broadcaster TVE, "In my 60 years, I have never seen something like this in my village, I have never seen fire of these dimensions."

Spanish television showed residents retreating as walls of flame and huge plumes of smoke moved through woods and scrubland. High winds and hilly ground complicated operations as firefighters battled the blazes with fire engines and bulldozers. Joaquin Espinosa, 33, told The Associated Press before he and his neighbours were evacuated from the village of Chapinera, west of Madrid, "All around the town was smoke and fire. I was scared. Everything was fire and smoke, people were nervous."

Spain has recorded its worst fires on record in a single week for both the regions of Castilla-La Mancha and Madrid. Firefighters were also still trying to put out Spain's second-largest ever fire in Guadalajara province in Castilla-La Mancha, where about 320 square kilometres have burned over the past week. Earlier this month, 13 people were killed in a fire in southern Spain, the country's deadliest wildfire in recent memory.

Spanish Minister for the Ecological Transition Sara Aagesen said 1,140 square kilometres had already burned in Spain this year, more than five times the area burned in the first half of 2025. Nine other serious fires were active in other parts of the country on Friday. Prime Minister Pedro Snchez on Wednesday called for a pact between political parties to fight climate change, saying it was key to adapting to a climate that is becoming more prone to fires. Wildfire analyst Ral Qulez said climate change and the abandonment of farmland had left rural areas more exposed because trees and undergrowth now often reach right up to homes. "That makes a perfect cocktail for this type of fire," he told the AP from Valencia.

In Italy, wildfires also raged in Sicily and other areas. Civil protection officials said some of the blazes were the work of arsonists, and the head of the civil protection agency in Calabria, Domenico Costarella, said they had used cats to help spread fires by tying rags soaked in flammable liquid to their tails and releasing them in fields. The fires, driven by temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius, low humidity and winds, led to scattered evacuations and were blamed for the death of a firefighter responding to a blaze in Caltanissetta.

Across southern Europe, authorities continued to battle multiple wildfires as evacuations rose, emergency help was sought from EU partners and strong winds, high temperatures and dry conditions made containment harder.

With PTI Inputs

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