A fast-moving wildfire has forced France to clear the entire Cap Ferret peninsula, turning one of the Atlantic Coast’s best-known summer escapes into the scene of an urgent evacuation by land and sea.
The sweeping order to empty the area, a prized stretch of coastline dotted with high-value homes and packed with holidaymakers in campsites and rental properties, signalled the scale of the threat facing authorities.
Officials said more than 110,000 people had been moved out of danger, with many ferried to safety by boat.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said today that French authorities would “do everything to protect” Bordeaux, as fires burned near the city.
“We obviously hope that all hell will not break loose but we are preparing for a severe situation,” EU spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said.
Holidaymakers from Lege-Cap-Ferret being evacuated by boat
The blaze has already ripped through 8,700 hectares and continues to burn.
Irish author shares terror of French wildfire ordeal
Across southern Europe, wildfires driven by searing heat and powerful winds have torn through parts of Italy, France and Spain, sending thousands of residents and tourists fleeing.
Three firefighters have died as the region endures an intense heatwave, with temperatures climbing above 40C in some places.
In southeastern France, the mistral wind has whipped up dozens of fires around the historic village of Cotignac, where officials said about 25 homes had been destroyed since Tuesday.
Above Le Porge, smoke from blackened, crackling pine trees turned the sky orange, while helicopters repeatedly swept over neighbourhoods that had already been evacuated.
The same forest was badly hit in 2022, when fires burned across a vast area and forced about 50,000 people from their homes and holiday accommodation.
Around Bordeaux, more than 20,000 people, most of them tourists staying in campsites and holiday lets, have been evacuated since Wednesday as flames tore through a coastal pine forest.
Authorities said the northern edge of the fire had been contained, though crews had not yet brought the southern side fully under control.
Two firefighters were killed on Tuesday while battling a separate blaze near Bordeaux airport.
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40,000 people told to evacuate or shelter in Madrid region
West of the Spanish capital, the Madrid region’s worst wildfire on record continued to rage today, prompting authorities to order evacuations or tell around 40,000 people to stay indoors.
Officials said strong winds and extreme heat were frustrating containment efforts after the flames destroyed dozens of homes and led to the closure of several roads.
They said two wind-driven fires had merged into one enormous blaze on Friday and were close to joining with another fire burning in neighbouring Castilla y Leon.
“The smoke was incredibly thick. You couldn’t breathe,” Jose Cobos, who fled his home with his wife and three dogs, told private broadcaster Antena 3.
Spanish authorities today ordered another 7,000 people to evacuate from two localities west of Madrid threatened by the advancing fires.
Emergency alerts were sent to mobile phones in the two villages. The latest orders came on top of instructions already issued to 19,000 people in the Madrid region to leave their communities or remain inside with windows and doors sealed.
Spain’s Guardia Civil police force said a man had been arrested on suspicion of starting the Madrid-region fire by using a farm vehicle despite a ban imposed because of the tinder-dry conditions. Another person is being investigated over the same incident.
Carlos Novillo, the Madrid regional government’s emergency management chief, said conditions were “expected to improve” overnight, with cooler temperatures and increased humidity forecast for tomorrow.
But Francisco Martin Aguirre, the central government’s delegate, said the emergency remained “very complicated”.
“Forecasts indicate that the wind will continue and, consequently, through this evening the fire could continue to advance,” he said, adding that further evacuation and confinement orders could not be ruled out.
Wildfire rages overnight in Burgohondo, Spain
Isabel Diaz Ayuso, who leads Madrid’s regional government, described it as the worst wildfire the region had ever faced.
“The situation is completely unusual and catastrophic,” she said, stressing that the priority was “to save lives”.
The fire has burned about 6,000 hectares, or 15,000 acres, in the Madrid region, where homes are densely clustered in affected areas.
The largest blaze is burning on the other side of Madrid, in Guadalajara province, around 100km north of the capital, and has consumed 32,000 hectares since last Thursday.
“Climate change is what kills, what destroys our villages and our natural and cultural heritage,” civil protection chief Virginia Barcones told Spanish radio.
She said some fires grow so fierce that aircraft and ground crews can be deployed, yet firefighters still stand “no chance”.
Ms Barcones said the situation at the Guadalajara fire was improving, though high winds and extreme heat continued to pose serious risks.
People evacuated from the municipality of Aldea del Fresno shelter at a local sports centre
In a post on X, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez appealed to the public to show “great caution” and follow official instructions.
Almost 125,000 hectares, or 309,000 acres, have burned in Spain so far this year, compared with 393,000 hectares during all of last year, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).
In Italy, thousands of emergency workers fought scores of fires in Sicily and Calabria, where a local official said arsonists had set blazes.
The interior minister said one firefighter died this week after becoming ill while fighting the flames in Sicily.
Read more: Irish author Sophie Morris shares terror of French wildfire ordeal Walking outside in Malaga in 40C ‘like opening an oven door’ Wildfires, heatwaves and air-con: Europe’s climate reality
