French and Spanish authorities have ordered more than 220,000 people to leave their homes as major wildfires sweep across south-western Europe, fuelled by extreme heat, drought and powerful winds.
Nearly 60,000 residents were evacuated from communities close to Bordeaux early on Saturday, adding to the approximately 200,000 people already displaced by fires across France’s Gironde and Landes regions.
French President Emmanuel Macron has deployed military personnel to support the emergency response, describing the wildfire situation as “very tense”, particularly in Gironde.
Across the border, Spain has declared a national emergency as firefighters battle several large blazes, including an uncontrollable fire west of Madrid formed after three separate fronts merged.
Authorities initially ordered around 25,000 people to evacuate and advised almost 40,000 others to remain indoors. Regional officials later said as many as 30,000 people had been forced from their homes, while another 20,000 were placed under lockdown.
Madrid regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso called it the “worst fire in the history of the region”, saying firefighters were confronting a “perfect storm” of soaring temperatures, relentless winds and converging fire fronts.
Emergency services said the flames were advancing towards Robledo de Chavela and Fresnedillas de la Oliva, approximately 50 kilometres west of the Spanish capital.
“The wildfire is at its peak and is currently beyond the capacity of firefighters to contain,” Carlos Novillo, emergency management chief for the Madrid regional government, told reporters.
“It’s not possible to attack the fire in that area, so defensive measures are being taken,” he added.
Spain’s Military Emergency Unit has been sent to the affected area, with personnel concentrating on slowing the fire’s advance and protecting communities near El Escorial.
Officials are also closely watching a separate blaze in neighbouring Ávila province amid concerns that the enormous Burgohondo fire could eventually connect with the Madrid inferno.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said emergency teams were doing “everything we can” to prevent the two fires from joining.
More than 60,000 people have been affected across the Madrid region. Francisco Martín, the central government’s representative in Madrid, warned that the number could increase because “embers are flying for miles and the fire is jumping great distances”.
The speed of the blaze was illustrated in Ávila, where flames travelled roughly 20 kilometres from Navaluenga to the Iruelas Valley in less than 30 minutes.
“It was horrific,” El Tiemblo mayor Arturo Varas González told Spanish television channel laSexta.
At least 6,000 hectares have been scorched in the Madrid region, while almost 9,000 hectares have burned in Ávila, according to local authorities.
Eight municipalities have been evacuated: Chapinería, Navas del Rey, Colmenar del Arroyo, Fresnedillas de la Oliva, Robledo de Chavela, Aldea del Fresno, Navalagamella and Zarzalejo.
Residents of several other communities, including San Martín de Valdeiglesias, Pelayos de la Presa and Villa del Prado, have been instructed to remain indoors.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is expected to visit the emergency coordination centre overseeing operations in the affected zone on Saturday morning.
Sánchez said on Friday that residents were “living through a dramatic situation” and urged the public to exercise extreme caution.
Spain’s Civil Guard has arrested one person and is investigating another in connection with the Burgohondo blaze. Officials believe the fire may have resulted from the negligent use of heavy machinery during a period when restrictions were in force, according to local media.
Meanwhile, the wildfire emergency has intensified in France, where approximately 200,000 people have been evacuated from the Gironde and Landes regions.
Four towns near Bordeaux — Saint-Médard-en-Jalles, Saint-Jean-d’Illac, Martignas-sur-Jalle and Saint-Aubin-de-Médoc — were cleared “as a precaution” during the early hours of Saturday.
The communities have a combined population of approximately 58,400, according to French newspaper Le Monde.
Gironde prefect Sophie Brocas described the main blaze as an “XXL fire”. It has already destroyed around 80 homes and burned through more than 19,000 hectares of forest.
Authorities also ordered the complete evacuation of the Cap Ferret peninsula on France’s south-western coast. Hundreds of people escaped by boat after flames reached the popular holiday destination.
Cap Ferret has fewer than 8,000 permanent residents, but its population can increase tenfold during the peak summer tourism period.
Fire and rescue chief Marc Vermeulen said the current conditions were even more dangerous than those experienced during the destructive wildfires that struck the region in 2022. Severe drought has allowed the flames to continue advancing throughout the night.
Another fire near Biscarrosse in the Landes region has forced more than 23,000 people to leave homes, campsites, a nursing facility and a summer camp.
Landes prefect Gilles Clavreul said the blaze was unlikely to be extinguished by the end of Friday, with temperatures reaching between 36C and 37C and winds of up to 50 kilometres per hour.
Macron said France had activated the European Union’s civil protection mechanism to obtain international assistance. Reinforcements include two Black Hawk helicopters supplied by the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The EU has also deployed firefighting aircraft and helicopters to France and Spain as repeated heatwaves and persistent drought create increasingly hazardous conditions across southern Europe.
Europe has warmed at more than twice the global average since the 1980s, making it the world’s fastest-heating continent, according to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Prolonged heat and limited rainfall remove moisture from trees, grass and other vegetation, leaving behind highly combustible material that allows fires to ignite and spread more rapidly.
Although wildfires still require an ignition source — frequently human activity, whether accidental or deliberate, or lightning — dry vegetation, intense heat and strong winds can dramatically accelerate their growth and make them far more difficult to control.
Figures from the European Forest Fire Information System show that wildfires have already burned more territory across Europe this year than the annual average recorded over the previous two decades.
The European Environment Agency has warned that “climate change has increased forest fire risk across Europe”, with southern European countries facing the most severe threat.
