Mass evacuation ordered as wildfires threaten Atlantic coast
More than 4,000 people have been ordered to evacuate campsites, tourist homes, holiday villages and leisure parks around Lacanau, about 40 miles from Bordeaux, as wildfires rage near the French Atlantic Coast. French authorities said the evacuation covers the resort town of Lacanau-Océan and both shores of Lake Lacanau. People have been told to take personal belongings, follow emergency instructions and avoid the area until permitted to return.
The evacuation order comes as firefighters race to contain the blazes before a new heatwave brings temperatures of up to 41°C to the south-west. Bordeaux is forecast to reach 38°C on Monday and 41°C on Tuesday, according to AccuWeather. National weather service Météo-France has placed the Gironde region under a yellow alert for high temperatures.
Macron: 'Most difficult situation since World War Two'
French President Emmanuel Macron described the wildfires as the 'most difficult situation' France has faced since World War Two, with more than 260,000 people evacuated from their homes in the south-west. Speaking after a crisis meeting, he said: 'We have a situation that is more difficult than at any time since the Second World War. The weeks ahead will be hard.' He praised fire crews for preventing the inferno from spreading further but warned the battle is not over.
The mayor of Bordeaux, Thomas Cazenave, said the wildfire is now nine miles from the city and that he is preparing for 'all eventualities'. He added: 'We are preparing to accommodate a large number of people should further evacuations be ordered.'
France and Spain battle record wildfires
In Spain, around 63,000 people have been evacuated from their homes near Madrid, with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez calling it 'the most painful expression of the climate emergency'. Spanish weather agency AEMET has announced a new heatwave starting Tuesday, with temperatures forecast to hit 42°C in the north-east and 39°C in the centre. At a sports hall outside Madrid, displaced people camped on beds and comforted pets. Maria Angeles Canete fought back tears as she looked at the remains of her campsite near Navaluenga: 'We lost everything. We had this campsite, we had another one, and we’ve lost it all. We have nothing.'
France’s Interior Ministry says 13,566 fires have swept across over 116,000 hectares since January, the highest annual figure in the country’s modern records. Since the fire near Bordeaux broke out, five people have been arrested for lighting fires in the area, accused of lighting cigarettes, barbecues, setting small trees on fire and lighting fireworks over a highway. Since July 6, there have been 162 arrests in connection with fires in France, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said, warning that arson is punishable by 15 years in prison.
Firefighter killed, blaze 'will be fire of the century'
A volunteer firefighter, Laurent Manson, 38, died on Monday when his fire-fighting tanker left the road while heading to refuel in the southern Bouches-du-Rhône region. The Saint-Étienne-du-Grès Fire and Rescue said he died 'in the line of duty'. The number of firefighters injured in the Gironde blaze has risen to 93, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said, with 'relatively few requiring hospital treatment'.
The mayor of Cestas near Bordeaux, Jerome Steffe, said the blaze 'will be the fire of the century', with 17,000 residents evacuated, 42,000 hectares burned, and 240 houses destroyed. 'In my city the situation is really catastrophic,' he told the BBC. 'We put all our energy into creating protective firebreaks. We are all scared in front of this situation.'
Flames 'dynamic and unpredictable', transport disrupted
Interior Minister Nuñez said the fire in Gironde is 'stabilised' but not 'contained', and that it has developed a 'life of its own' due to recent weather conditions. 'It is autonomous, self-sustaining, and spreads in all directions. So it is a fire that's difficult to control,' he said. In southeast France, a fire in Gros Bessillon, Var region, is 'still dynamic, unpredictable' and 'far from contained', said Prefect Simon Babre, with Mistral winds worsening conditions. Meanwhile, a wildfire in Corsica has scorched 1,000 hectares in the Restonica Valley.
Train operator SNCF announced that no TGV trains will run south of Bordeaux on Tuesday except for services to Agen and Toulouse. Bordeaux will be the last stop for trains heading from Paris to Toulouse, and trains to Arcachon, Hendaye, and Tarbes via Dax are cancelled, as is the Intercity night train between Paris and Tarbes.
Wildfire smoke creates thunderstorm, Spain bans machinery
A monster wildfire near Saumos in the Gironde department grew so powerful that its smoke column became a pyrocumulonimbus thunderstorm, generating lightning that ignited new fires. The blaze, now spanning 162 square miles, broke out on July 22. In Spain, the Interior Ministry banned the use of agricultural machinery for harvesting in the Madrid region and the provinces of Ávila and Toledo for the duration of the national wildfire emergency. Local media reported the fire in Ávila was caused by a person operating heavy machinery. Spain’s Ecology Minister Sara Aagesen said more than 170,000 hectares have been affected by forest fires in Spain this year, six times more than in 2025, and that a fourth heatwave will begin on Wednesday.
