‘We’re ready for anything’: Bordeaux braces itself for blazes as wildfires rage across France and Spain – with more than 300,000 evacuated

The mayor of Bordeaux says his city is ‘prepared for anything’ as out-of-control forest fires inch closer.

More than 300,000 residents have been evacuated due to wildfires in France and Spain, and 270,000 people living in Bordeaux are at risk of total evacuation.

‘We are very careful. “We are ready for anything,” said Bordeaux mayor Thomas Cazenave.

‘The fire is further south,’ he told reporters at a shelter for people displaced by the fires.

‘It’s still on the edge of the metropolitan area, but it’s not advancing on the west side of the metropolitan area,’ he said.

Firefighters are ‘overwhelmed’ and ‘worried about the city of Bordeaux’ as they battle out-of-control flames in south-west France.

Gironde firefighters’ union president Sebastien Berge said: ‘Firefighters are overwhelmed. When a fire of this magnitude happens, it creates its own weather… It’s hard to monitor.

The Municipality of Bordeaux is considering completely evacuating the city of more than 270,000 people. More than 300,000 people have been evacuated between France and Spain so far.

‘Especially when there is a fire front extending over 20km.

‘When you see how far it has spread, I think we can worry about the city of Bordeaux now.’

While Mr Cazenave said there were no current plans to evacuate the UNESCO-listed city, the local council had previously said ‘complete evacuation of the city if necessary’ was being considered.

Approximately 270,000 people live in Bordeaux’s own city, and more than 830,000 live in the Bordeaux Métropole urban area, which includes 28 connected local towns.

Thousands of people were evacuated from villages close to the city in the heart of the famous French wine-growing region.

Smoke from the inferno is already rising into the sky over the city and descending into the streets, raising concerns that residents could experience respiratory problems.

The forest fire situation in southwestern France is ‘very negative’, French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said on Sunday.

Mr Nuñez said on X: ‘Another difficult night on the bushfire front. “The situation remains quite unfavorable,” he said.

A total of 2,500 firefighters, including a Swiss fire brigade, 1,500 military personnel and about 1,200 police, were deployed to fight fires in the southwestern region of Gironde, he said.

The Municipality of Bordeaux is currently planning for different scenarios that may arise as the fire moves through the country towards the city, including complete evacuation of the city.

The first death from forest fires was recorded in Spain yesterday, according to the local fire department; where a man believed to be in his 70s was found inside a car in a valley in the Spanish town of Manises, near Valencia, following a forest fire in the area.

A further 55,000 people were ordered to evacuate in France late last night, bringing the total to 250,000 forced to flee their homes in the Gironde region.

Nearly 500 French military personnel were deployed to assist firefighters on Friday and a further 1,500 were sent in following a ‘crisis meeting’ in Paris last night.

Mr Nuñez said a massive A400M military transport plane would join 18 other water and retardant-dropping planes and helicopters in what was expected to be a ‘long and very difficult’ battle against the fire in the Gironde region.

The government said the situation was completely unprecedented.

Major damage was caused to a burned-out house following a devastating fire this morning in Pelayos de la Presa, 65 kilometers west of Madrid.

Burnt buildings around a pool in a destroyed residential area following a forest fire in Le Porge, France’s Gironde region

The forest that burned yesterday near the town of Lege-Cap-Ferret in southwestern France

Firefighters outside Lege-Cap-Ferret. 2,000 military personnel deployed to assist emergency services in unprecedented situation in France

Evacuees from Chapinera and Pelayos de la Presa, who had to leave their homes in a hurry due to uncontrolled forest fires in the Sierra Oeste region of Madrid

The final stage of the Tour de France due today has been shortened from 113 km (83 miles) to 89 km (55 miles) so security forces can be redeployed to areas affected by the inferno, organizers and police said.

Spanish interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told local media yesterday: ‘It has not been a positive day. The weather conditions were certainly difficult.

‘If it hasn’t gotten worse, that’s thanks to the work of all the emergency services.’

Fires continue near the capital Madrid.

High winds blew the flames southwards yesterday and Mr Grande-Marlaska warned yesterday: ‘The night is not going to be very positive or very friendly for us.’

According to Spain’s interior ministry, nearly 60,000 people were evacuated from the Madrid and Ávila regions, while more than 28,000 were trapped in their homes.

Evacuation orders were issued for eight municipalities near Toledo late last night, but it’s unclear how many of them were involved.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said that 130,000 hectares of land were turned into ashes in the fires, which is over 100,000 hectares on average annually.

Meanwhile, 98,000 hectares have burned in France, Mr. Nuñez said.

Fires also affected Italy, where more than 350 fires broke out, including ten major fires on the island of Sicily.

Fires continue in England as the Cairngorms National Park has been burning for the last 11 days. Emergency services declared the incident a major incident on Friday.