What to know about the wildfires spreading in Spain and France
COTIGNAC, FRANCE – JULY 21: Bystanders watch smoke and flames from a forest fire in Cotignac, France, on July 21, 2026. More than 1,000 firefighters were called to control the fast-moving forest fire that has burned more than 2,500 hectares in southern France. (Photo: FBM Media/Getty Images)
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Fires are ravaging southern France and spreading into Spain, forcing more than 300,000 people to flee due to heatwaves expected throughout the week.
French President Emmanuel Macron is preparing to hold a crisis cabinet meeting on Monday, while Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will visit fire-affected areas in Valencia in eastern Spain.
The fire, which started in Gironde in southwestern France, burned 42,000 hectares and caused one of the largest evacuations in French history, according to the French broadcaster. France 24 And local news sources. The fires also affected 77,000 hectares in the Avila and Toledo regions of western Madrid.
“The situation remains quite negative.” French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez According to Google translate it was said on Saturday at X. “At the beginning of the night the fire again became extremely violent and unpredictable in Gironde, creating its own wind and spreading erratically towards the Bordeaux metropolitan area. By the end of the night it calmed down somewhat.”
Nunez said 2,500 firefighters, 1,500 military personnel and about 1,200 police have been deployed to control the fire since the beginning of the disaster.
Firefighters of Spain’s Military Emergency Unit (UME) and the Castilla-y-Leon unit battle a fire that broke out in the forest next to the La Atalaya settlement in El Tiemblo, 80 km west of Madrid, on July 25, 2026, amid forest fires that have burned up to 25,000 hectares. Spanish firefighters had hoped to contain wildfires near Madrid on Saturday, but an official warned that erratic winds threatened to fuel the blazes further. Wildfires, the worst in the Madrid region’s history, are ravaging the west of Spain’s capital, forcing authorities to evacuate or order nearly 60,000 people to stay in their homes. (Photo: Cesar MANSO / AFP via Getty Images)
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In recent developments, the province of Gironde has emerged as the main government center of the Bordeaux region. in question “The situation remained generally stable overnight from Sunday to Monday, with no significant developments to report,” he said on Monday.
Firefighter Capt. Nicolas Braz said the massive blaze had been labeled an extremely dangerous and rare “pyrocumulonimbus” (a type of fire cloud that produces its own winds and hurricanes, making it “erratic and unmanageable”). he told AFP.
