Bordeaux and Madrid Wildfires Force Evacuations of Over 270,000
Massive forest fires have ripped through southwestern France and central Spain. In France, the blaze in the Gironde department around Bordeaux has burned about 42,000 hectares, destroyed hundreds of homes and forced the evacuation of roughly 220,000 residents, with an additional 30,000 people displaced in the neighbouring Landes region. Strong winds created pyrocumulonimbus clouds that intensified the fire, prompting the French interior minister Laurent Nuñez to warn of a long‑term battle. France has deployed about 1,500 soldiers, including an A400M aircraft capable of dropping 20,000 litres of retardant, to combat the conflagration.
In Spain, wildfires near Madrid, Ávila and Valencia have scorched tens of thousands of hectares, evacuated more than 115,000 people and caused at least one fatality in Manises. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez declared a state of emergency and coordinated assistance from Portugal, Italy, Greece and the Netherlands. Combined, the fires have displaced over 270,000 people across the two countries, making this the largest evacuation effort in recent European history.