Southwest Europe wildfires force mass evacuations in France and Spain
France and Spain have moved more than 325,000 people as fires burn near Bordeaux, Madrid and Castellon after severe heatwaves.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
4 min read
Southwest Europe wildfires have forced France and Spain to move more than 325,000 people from homes, holiday areas and towns, according to authorities cited by Al Jazeera. The fires are testing emergency services after record heatwaves left parts of Europe dry and exposed.
France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on Sunday that about 115,000 hectares had burned in France since the start of the year. In Spain, Copernicus European Forest Fire Information System data showed 119,458 hectares burned as of July 22, while Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said more than 150,000 hectares had burned since January, six times the area lost in the same period last year.
The United Nations said wildfires destroyed 2.2 million hectares across Europe in 2025, compared with 1.4 million hectares in 2022.
Where are the southwest Europe wildfires burning?
France and Spain have been hit hardest since early July, according to Al Jazeera. Authorities said about 220,000 people have been evacuated in France, while Spain has evacuated about 75,000 people and told around 30,000 others to shelter in place.
In Spain, a fast-moving fire in Andalusia killed at least 12 people on July 10, Al Jazeera reported. By July 20, fires had reached the Madrid region, where at least 10,000 people were evacuated; Spanish authorities declared a national emergency on July 24, saying two major fires were out of control.
Regional authorities said another fire in Castellon province burned more than 4,300 hectares over the weekend and entered the Sierra de Espadan natural park, an area with pine forests and cork oaks. Valencia regional leader Juanfran Perez told reporters that difficult weather made the fire technically hard to extinguish.
In France, fires have heavily affected the Cap Ferret peninsula on the Atlantic coast, about 70km from Bordeaux. Bordeaux Mayor Thomas Cazenave said the fire was about 15km from the city’s entrances, though he said there were no immediate plans to evacuate the wider Bordeaux area, which has about 850,000 residents.
Nunez told France 2 TV that the fire was not under control and was moving toward the urban area. French authorities have moved 197,000 people from areas around Bordeaux and warned against road or rail travel to the region.
The fires also affected the Tour de France finale in Paris. Organisers cut Sunday’s route from 133km to 89km after security forces assigned to the race were redirected to firefighting duties, Al Jazeera reported.
Why are the fires so hard to contain?
Scientists have warned that pyrocumulonimbus clouds are forming in southwest Europe, according to Al Jazeera. The Royal Meteorological Society describes them as thunderclouds created by intense heat from the surface; in wildfires, they can spread embers and generate dry lightning that starts new fires.
A spokesperson for France’s National Firefighters Federation told AFP that such fire behaviour is common in Canada and Australia but unprecedented in France. The spokesperson said crews were facing conditions that required defensive action and, in some cases, retreat.
French and Spanish authorities have said firefighters cannot handle the blazes alone and have sought outside support. The European Union’s civil protection mechanism is assisting, with Greece and Italy sending firefighting aircraft to Spain, Portugal deploying more than 100 military personnel and equipment, and Turkey expected to send two aircraft, Spain’s Interior Ministry said on X.
Sanchez visited fire-hit areas in Avila and said Spain had a limited opportunity over the weekend to protect lives and population centres. He said the government would declare a civil protection emergency for central provinces on Tuesday, opening access to more recovery funding.
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on X that the fires in France had reached a level not seen before, and he called a second government crisis meeting in two days. President Emmanuel Macron was holding a cabinet crisis meeting on Monday, Al Jazeera reported.
Climate and land-use factors are also under scrutiny. The European Forest Institute said wildfire risk is rising globally because of climate change and land-use change, while Copernicus says Europe has warmed twice as fast as the global average since 1980.
Laurie Laybourn of the Strategic Climate Risks Initiative told Al Jazeera that climate change is increasing the conditions that make societies vulnerable to wildfires, while planning tools are lagging behind the speed of worsening disasters.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.