Here are the latest developments on Friday on the fire front in Europe, where forests ignite all the more easily as the vegetation and soils are very dry, a drought accentuated by the exceptional heatwaves of June and July.
France: 110,000 evacuations in the South-West
Some 110,000 evacuations have taken place since Wednesday and the fires ravaging the south-west of France, the largest of which in Gironde, have covered 14,000 hectares, said Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez.
The minister spoke of “a completely unprecedented situation”. “We had never seen this, a convective fire (which feeds itself, Editor’s note) of this magnitude,” he said on TF1.
France: the authorities will “do everything to protect” the city of Bordeaux
The authorities will “do everything to protect” the city of Bordeaux, in the south-west of France, while a fire which has already covered 14,000 hectares in the region “is heading towards the Bordeaux metropolis”, assured the Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nuñez.
The city is “for the moment” not threatened,” added the minister. “We are obviously going to do everything to protect it by land means” and with the help of military means, he declared on TF1.
France: an interministerial crisis unit convened at 10 p.m. (8 p.m. GMT)
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu will bring together an interministerial crisis unit on Friday evening on the forest fires which are hitting the territory, while Gironde and Landes, in the south-west of the country, are particularly affected by fires.
“The ministries of the Interior, the Armed Forces, Health, Transport and the Environment” will be summoned for this meeting scheduled for 10 p.m. (8 p.m. GMT), according to a statement from Matignon to the press.
France: two smokers in the forest prosecuted, after tougher sanctions
Two men are being prosecuted for endangering the lives of others after being arrested smoking in the forest in the Gironde department, in the southwest of France, the victim of very serious forest fires.
Spain: Madrid fire “at its strongest”, “impossible to put out” according to authorities
The fire in the Madrid region is “at its strongest”, said Carlos Novillo, of the regional government of Madrid, during a press briefing at the command post of extinguishing operations, deeming it “impossible” to put out the fire.
“At the moment it is obvious that the fire is at its strongest, it is impossible to put out,” he said. He added that the fire that started in the province of Ávila was heading further “north than expected”, giving hope that it would not join the fire raging in the neighboring Madrid region.
Spain: 40,000 people evacuated or confined in total in the Madrid region
A total of 40,000 people have already been evacuated or confined in the Madrid region because of the gigantic fire raging there, announced the regional prefect, Francisco Martín Aguirre. Of this total, some 20,000 people were evacuated, AFP learned.
Spain: Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on site Saturday at 8 a.m. GMT
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez will travel on Saturday at 10 a.m. (8 a.m. GMT) to the emergency coordination center for the major fire in the Madrid region.
The head of the Spanish government will be accompanied by the Ministry of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, in the municipality of Cenicientos and will attend an emergency meeting, this source said.
Spain: a man arrested, suspected of causing a fire after using agricultural machinery
A man was arrested on Friday, suspected of being at the origin of the Ávila fire, which ravaged 9,000 hectares in the region of Castile and León, after using agricultural machinery, in an area where this was “totally prohibited”, announced the Civil Guard.
In addition to this man, “another person is under investigation as the author of the fire”, indicated the Civil Guard on
Spain: the “worst fire in history” in the Madrid region
It is the “worst fire in history” in the Madrid region, according to regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso.
“For a region like this, with a high concentration of housing and population, it is a disaster,” she stressed.
“We have never experienced anything like this,” she added from an emergency coordination center on site, insisting that “the current priority is to save lives”.
Spain: the gigantic fire in Guadalajara has decreased in intensity, the army withdraws
The gigantic fire in the province of Guadalajara, which has ravaged 32,000 hectares for more than a week, has decreased in intensity and the army has withdrawn from the area, authorities announced, even if the fire had not yet been extinguished or officially stabilized.
The EU has deployed four planes in Spain, in addition to three in France
The European Union has deployed four water bomber planes to fight the fires in Spain, Brussels announced on Friday, a device which is in addition to the three planes announced on Thursday for France.
“We are preparing for a difficult situation,” said Commission spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen.
France: 32 fires in progress, 50,000 hectares burned since the start of 2026
“Currently we have 32 fires in progress, which obviously do not all have the same importance,” French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told AFP. “We have exceeded the threshold of 50,000 hectares which have been burned since January 1 of this year. So if you take the reference compared to last year, it’s almost times three,” he indicated.
