French and Spanish firefighters are working this Sunday to try to control fires of considerable magnitude, which have forced more than 325,000 people to leave their homes. Near Bordeaux, in the southwest of France, the flames are only 15 km from the town.
• Also read: Fires out of control in France and Spain: more than 160,000 evacuations
• Also read: Near Madrid, the wait, the anguish and the anger of fire survivors
• Also read: Quebecers on guard because of the flames approaching Bordeaux
The fire ravaging Gironde, on the Atlantic coast, gained ground at full speed overnight and now covers 42,000 hectares, four times the area of Paris. It is progressing “15 kilometers” from the Bordeaux metropolis, but an evacuation of Bordeaux is “not on the agenda”, mayor Thomas Cazenave insisted.
In this region known worldwide for its vineyards, the government considers it “very likely” that this is the largest civilian evacuation operation ever carried out in France outside of wartime. The disaster is already among the largest recorded in the country since the Second World War.
New nighttime evacuations have been launched in several municipalities in this metropolis which has more than 850,000 inhabitants.
Aurore Vigreux, a 38-year-old lawyer, left her home in the night with her daughter and several animals: “It’s not even that I’m afraid, I’m dismayed to see that in fact the fire is progressing and that there is nothing to give hope. You still have winds, they predict a heatwave for the coming week so it’s going to be even worse. »
On the quays of Bordeaux, orange-tinted smoke veiled the sky at dawn, while a strong smell of burning permeated the streets.
In Cestas, a town of 17,000 inhabitants on the outskirts of Bordeaux, “the town is fortunately deserted (…) We have a few people who did not want to evacuate their homes. We obviously kept a list,” Mayor Jérôme Steffe declared on BFMTV.
“This fire is unpredictable and every time we think we have won a battle, unfortunately it surprises us in the worst way possible. And so unfortunately, no return date today can be announced,” he continued. “Today it is impossible to say where the fire will stop. »
“Very unfavorable” situation
The fire which ignited the area around the busy Arcachon basin now threatens the gates of the Bordeaux metropolis. Some 220,000 people have been evacuated since Wednesday.
In the neighboring department of Landes, where the fire is “better contained but not fixed”, there have already been 30,000 evacuations.
“The situation remains very unfavorable” on the fire front in Gironde, but also in Landes and Var, said Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez on X.
“At the start of the night, in Gironde, the fire once again became extremely virulent, unpredictable, creating its own wind and evolving erratically towards the Bordeaux metropolitan area,” detailed the minister.
Another difficult night on the fire front. The situation remains very unfavorable.
➡️ At the start of the night, in Gironde, the fire once again became extremely virulent, unpredictable, creating its own wind and evolving erratically towards the Bordeaux metropolitan area. He…
— Laurent Nuñez (@NunezLaurent) July 26, 2026
The army was mobilized as reinforcements, with a total of 1,500 soldiers deployed as of Saturday evening.
The fire in the Var has progressed to reach 4,500 hectares in total, despite the mobilization of firefighters who fear “a high risk of reactivation of the fire” due to the wind. Some 2,000 people were evacuated.
Forests catch fire all the more easily as European vegetation and soils have been dry for months, a phenomenon amplified by the exceptional heat waves which crossed the continent in June and July, accelerating the evaporation of water.
“Difficult times” in Spain
Violent fires are also raging in Spain, where Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said firefighters were battling to save lives.
He warned on Sunday that “difficult times” were ahead, while noting positive developments overnight regarding the control of the fires around Madrid. A “major state pact in the face of the climate emergency” is essential, he insisted.
One person also lost his life in a fire on Saturday near Valencia, in the east of the country, where 15,000 people were evacuated on Sunday due to another fire.
“The night was very intense,” wrote on X Pilar Bernabé, delegate of the central government in Valencia. “The weather conditions are expected to deteriorate throughout the day, so we are taking advantage of these hours to fight the flames. »
According to the authorities, around 60,000 people were evacuated in the Madrid region, which was facing the “worst” fire in its history. With the 15,000 evacuations in the Valencia region, a total of 75,000 people left their homes or vacation spots in Spain.
The flames ravaged up to 25,000 hectares west of the Spanish capital.
Elvira Menéndez slept little, because a gymnasium is “not like home”: “There are dogs, people who snore,” says this resident of the village of Chapinería, evacuated on Friday.
