The fight is not over. In Gironde, firefighters are still fighting against the megafire which has covered 42,000 hectares since Wednesday. If it is “stabilized”, according to the prefecture, it is not yet “fixed” and could return with the scorching temperatures expected this Wednesday, July 29.
The rest of France was not spared from the flames either. While more than 115,000 hectares have been covered by fire in France since the start of the year, several tools make it possible to monitor the evolution of the situation in real time. Useful maps both for residents of the areas concerned and for emergency services.
Firms, the NASA tool
The Firms (Fire Information for Resource Management System) site is a NASA service. Accessible free of charge, it translates the observations made by the MODIS and VIIRS modules on board American satellites to measure heat on the surface of the globe.
On the Firms map, active outbreaks around the world are marked by red dots. For the untrained eye, this representation can make it difficult to assess the extent of a fire. Thus, in Gironde, several fairly distant red dots do not really reflect the immense surface area covered by the flames.
But this graphic makes us aware of the number of fires in the world, particularly in Africa and South America.
The Effis European interface
The EU has its own tool for monitoring the state of forests in real time: the European Forest Fire Information System (Effis). Its maps are also based on data from MODIS and VIIRS. Several indicators allow you to refine your searches to display today’s fire risks, risk areas or forecasts for up to six days.
🔥 Wildfires near Saumos and Biscarrosse 🇫🇷 have burned tens of thousands of hectares, prompting the evacuation of around 220K people.
🛰️ #CopernicusEU CEMS Rapid Mapping supports authorities by tracking active fire fronts.
🔗 https://t.co/JxT8yseRRy pic.twitter.com/gSJRPEvNPH
— Copernicus EU (@CopernicusEU) July 28, 2026
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This interface was created to “help the services responsible for protecting forests against fires in the EU and neighboring countries and to provide institutions with harmonized information on forest fires in Europe”, indicates the specialized site europa.eu.
The citizen platform feudeforet.fr
The site feudeforet.fr is one of the first results displayed when searching for a map of fires in France. This participatory platform, managed by the Forest Fires association, allows everyone to report the start of a fire, consult current alerts in real time, and even receive notifications based on their location.
On the map, all current fires in France are represented by a red dot. By clicking on it, the user has access to a page detailing the evolution of the situation, supporting photos, the alerts issued by the authorities and the means of fighting the fire mobilized.
The Forest Fire Prevention and Reporting Association (PSFDF) offers equivalent services on its site: a tool allows citizens to report the start of a fire, and a map provides important information regarding current fires.
Feuxgironde.fr
A new map, available free of charge on the site feugironde.fr, has made it possible for several days to follow the smoke emitted by the fire near Cap Ferret and by the one, now fixed, in Landes.
Created by consultant Stéphane Delgado, this map allows you to simply visualize the movement of smoke plumes depending on the direction of the wind, and to monitor the estimated air quality, commune by commune. A retrospective allows us to realize the great distance traveled by the smoke in recent days.
Google Maps
Since 2024, Google Maps has offered a “forest fires” filter, which references the main hot spots in Europe. A much less detailed tool than the previous ones, but which can help to plan your route if a road is blocked due to a fire.
Maud Bregeon, the government spokesperson, however, advises against going to Gironde “until the fire is fixed to allow access to emergency services, so as not to clog up transport routes and travel routes”.
