France wildfire forces 250,000 to evacuate as blaze nears Bordeaux
Wildfires in Europe forced the evacuation of more than 250 thousand people in Spain and France
Fires are ravaging Spain and France, forcing more than 250,000 people to evacuate. As a fire threatens France’s famous Bordeaux wine region, Spain has declared a national emergency. France deployed the army and the Tour de France was shortened as firefighters battled massive fires.
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More than a quarter of a million people have been driven from their homes in southwestern France as a massive bushfire barrels its way towards the famed wine capital of Bordeaux; officials warned that the fast-moving inferno was becoming so violent that it was creating its own winds and behaving erratically.
French authorities ordered the evacuation of another 55,000 people from communities south of Bordeaux on Sunday, bringing the total number of evacuees in the region to nearly 250,000. High winds, dry conditions and repeated heat waves have fueled the fire, which has been burning out of control since midweek.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said firefighters faced a “difficult” night and warned Sunday that “the situation remains quite unfavorable.”
FIRES IN EUROPE ARE REVEALING A DEADLY MIX OF RECORD HEAT, HUMAN ERROR, ARSON AND LAND MISMANAGEMENT
Firefighters spray water into a burning forest near Lacanau in southwestern France on Saturday, July 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
“The fire again became extremely violent and unpredictable, creating its own winds and moving erratically towards the Bordeaux metropolitan area,” Nunez said on X, adding that the fire “calmed down by the end of the night.”
The fire has now burned an estimated 42,000 hectares, or about 162 square miles (about four times the size of Paris), in the Gironde region. Bordeaux Mayor Thomas Cazenave said the flames came to within about 14 kilometers of the city, causing authorities to partially close a major highway into and out of the area.
More than 2,500 firefighters, supported by 18 planes and helicopters, are working to slow the fire’s progress. France also deployed 1,500 soldiers to clear vegetation and create fire barriers, while some European countries also sent aircraft and fire crews to help.
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Nunez said 450 volunteers also rushed to help.
“We came to help because if this were our area we would want others to do the same,” farmer Pascal Roudier, 65, told Reuters. “Given the magnitude of the disaster, we think our efforts were also welcomed.”
Firefighters battle a wildfire near Marcheprime in Bordeaux, France, on Sunday, July 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
The fire in the Bordeaux region is one of several large forest fires burning across France. A separate fire in the neighboring Landes region forced another 36,000 people to evacuate, while around 3,000 people fled their homes in the Var region on the Mediterranean coast in southern France.
Neighboring Spain is facing its own bushfire emergency.
A firefighter carries a hose while fighting a forest fire in San Martin de Valdeiglesias, west of Madrid, Spain, Sunday, July 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Authorities have evacuated nearly 116,000 people in recent days due to fires in the Valencia region and west of Madrid. A fast-moving fire killed one person in a suburb of Valencia on Saturday; this was the first bushfire death in Spain’s latest fire wave.
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Earlier this month, 13 people died in southern Spain in the country’s deadliest recent forest fire.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
