Spain Declares Emergency As Fires Force Thousands Of Evacuations In France
NVALUENGA, Spain/LEGE-CAP-FERRET, France, July 24 (Reuters) – Spain declared a national emergency over forest fires for the first time on Friday and France asked for help from the European Union to fight a blaze on the Atlantic coast as scorching heat fueled fires across Europe and forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people.
French authorities ordered the complete evacuation of the Cap Ferret peninsula, a busy tourist destination for the summer season, as smoke and flames approached homes. About 63,000 people were evacuated from the area and most were brought to safety by boat, officials said.
Romain Perrocheau/AFP via Getty Images
Another large fire in the nearby town of Biscarrosse forced residents to flee their homes.
“We saw the fires from our house… We could see the clouds getting darker and darker,” said Yoan Urien, 26, who left late Thursday after police told everyone in his neighborhood to leave.
“I was able to find shelter with my pets but… it was quite a shock,” he told Reuters.
Flames Approached Access Road
Fire in North Saumos Container PoppyHe threatened to cut off the only road outside the peninsula, the biggest so far in France this season, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told local television.
It said it destroyed 10,000 hectares (24,700 acres) of land and burned 80 houses, completely destroying about 50.
AP Photo/Caroline Blumberg
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said more than 10,000 people were evacuated from towns in the mountains west of the capital Madrid as firefighters in Spain tried to prevent three fires in the region and the neighboring province of Avila from mixing together.
The area where most of the capital’s residents have their second homes is densely populated.
This played a role in the government’s decision to declare a national emergency and allowed it to better coordinate the response, Grande-Marlaska said, adding that the aggressive nature of the fires and hot, windy weather also led to the move.
This is the first time such a precaution has been taken due to fire. The last time Spain declared the same level of emergency alert was last year, during a major nationwide power outage.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs said that Spain also asked for help from the EU.
‘I’ve Never Seen Anything Like This’
In Navaluenga, in Avila province, locals wearing masks because of the smoke watched fire helicopters collect water from the town’s river.
Local resident Javier Martin told Reuters: “I’ve lived here for 36 years and I’ve never seen anything like this. I didn’t expect it either. I thought they would get the situation under control last night, but it was too late and everything was out of control.”
Spanish officials said that more than 270 emergency personnel and 40 ground units were deployed to the affected areas, along with a large number of Military Emergency Unit (UME) troops.
This is the second year in a row that Spain has faced a particularly devastating fire season.
More than 29 major fires have broken out in Spain so far this year, damaging five times more surface area than the same phase in 2025, when a record area was destroyed, Environment Minister Sara Aagesen said in a social media post.
Heat Affects Plants and Nuclear Power Plant Cooling
French President Emmanuel Macron said he is seeking firefighting support from the EU to help fight the Cap Ferret fire, which has already devastated 8,700 hectares (21,500 acres).
At Macron X, several experts from other European countries said that planes would soon depart to help.
After a brief break over the weekend, average temperatures in France are expected to rise sharply again next week, according to Global Forecast System data compiled by LSEG. High temperatures are expected to warm French rivers used to cool nuclear reactors and could lead to further restrictions as reactors reduce production to comply with environmental protection measures. The Golfech 2 nuclear reactor in southern France has been offline since July 7 due to heat-related restrictions, according to data from operator EDF.
Weeks of hot weather have also damaged the condition of the maize crop in France, the EU’s biggest grain producer, farm office FranceAgriMer said on Friday.
(Additional reporting by Manuel Ausloos, Coralie Lamarque, Liu Zhifan, Forrest Crellin, Inti Landauro, Ingrid Melander, Camille Raynaud, Guillermo Martinez, Violeta Santos Moura and Emma Pinedo; Writing by Charlie Devereux; Editing by Helen Popper)
