French President Pledges Support On Visit To Fire Zone, Vows: ‘We Will Win This Battle Together’

LEGE-CAP FERRET, France (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday called on firefighters struggling to control a massive wildfire to “stay strong,” warning that the fight would take time but vowing, “We will win this battle together.”

Visiting a coordination center for massive firefighting efforts in southwestern France, Macron heard how the fire, which has been raging since last week, had become extremely unpredictable and at times grew into a massive conflagration. self-feeding firestorm It burned an area four times the size of Paris, forcing 220,000 people to flee their homes.

“We are facing a completely unprecedented fire,” Macron said, describing the situation as the worst fire-related crisis France has experienced since World War II.

He praised firefighters who halted the inferno’s advance on Monday after days of flames pushing toward the wine region city of Bordeaux. But as forests still smoldered, he and other government officials warned that the battle was not yet won, with forests drying to tinder in successive heat waves this year and another forecast for this week.

Macron said, “The coming weeks will be difficult. We must remain determined.”

With thousands of firefighters on the ground and water and water rotations retardant falling planeIt became a race against time on Monday to get the fire under control before temperatures soar, with national weather forecasts calling for 35 C (95 F) and above in southwestern France from Tuesday.

Authorities are also working to feed, shelter and care for evacuees fleeing in staggering numbers: 250,000 people in the Southwest have been displaced by two fires.

Macron spoke of displaced people who were “traumatized” by the uprising and “sometimes lost everything.”

No new evictions were announced Monday. But as France is about to enter its peak tourist season in August, authorities in the Gironde region around Bordeaux have worked to keep holidaymakers away and banned holiday camps for children and the disabled. Government ministers also urged people not to travel to the region, which is popular for its Atlantic beaches, famous wines and some of France’s largest forests.

Crews using earthmovers have torn up strips of forest and bush, creating barren areas in an attempt to contain the flames, which authorities say are approaching 15 kilometers (10 miles) from the outskirts of Bordeaux. Farmers supplied water to fire crews and transported the water to them in tanks.

Macron, the fire chief of the Gironde region, described how crews were grappling with a “pervasive fire” that was unusually violent and capricious, unlike any fire they had battled before, creating electrical storms that sparked further flare-ups.

“The last 24 hours have been good, thanks to your work,” Macron told firefighters. “Tomorrow will undoubtedly be more complicated than today.”

Nearly a dozen countries provided planes, helicopters, firefighters and other aid to France and Spain as they battled unprecedented wildfires. In total, fires in the two countries forced more than 330,000 people to flee.

in spainForest fires in the Madrid and Valencia region are out of control. Authorities Evacuated 79,000 people and imprisoned 30,000 people in their homes.

The extraordinary scale of fires in both Spain and France, fueled by heatwaves that hit particularly hard earlier this year and dried out forests and bushland, is leading to calls for stronger action against climate change.

“What we are experiencing is not a series of isolated events. It is a consequence of the climate emergency, which is making forest fires even more severe, heat waves more frequent,” said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

Fire in mountainous rural terrain Ávila, west of MadridThe government said the fire, scorching 500 square kilometers (193 square miles), had become Spain’s largest on record. That’s five times the size of Barcelona.

“Look at how the valley is burning. Look at the houses, the people,” said David Gonzalez, a 48-year-old gardener who used his van to deliver supplies to firefighters in Ávila.

“We feel a lot of anger and despair. This is inhumane,” he said.

Ecology minister Sara Aagesen said fires have burned 1,530 square kilometers (590 square miles) in Spain this year; That’s six times the area burned by fires in the first half of 2025.

The minister said another heatwave forecast from Tuesday – which would be Spain’s fourth so far this year – could increase the fire danger. Spain’s weather agency predicts temperatures will be above 40 C (104 F).

A wildfire driven by strong winds broke out near Peschici in Italy’s southern Puglia region on Sunday afternoon, burning pine forests and scrubland and forcing the evacuation of about 300 tourists from beaches and campsites, authorities said.

The Coast Guard evacuated the tourists by sea to nearby Vieste, where authorities opened temporary shelters.

Three Canadian water bomb planes and fire crews continued to battle the blaze on Monday, bringing back memories of the devastating wildfires that hit the same coastal region in 2007.

Leicester reported from Paris. Associated Press writers Joseph Wilson in Barcelona, ​​El Tiemblo, Iain Sullivan in Spain and Giada Zampano in Rome contributed.