Europe wildfires latest: Bordeaux suburbs evacuated as France sends in army while winds in Spain could worsen blaze

Wildfires trigger mass evacuations across France and Spain

Over 200,000 people have been forced to evacuate their homes as massive wildfires continue to rage across southwestern France and central Spain.

On Saturday officials ordered the evacuation of large parts of Bordeaux’s suburbs, including the areas of Le Haillan, Eysines and Merignac.

Bordeaux is the largest city in the southwestern region and France’s sixth-largest city overall.

“The fires ‌which are hitting our country have reached a level that has never been seen before,” French ‌prime minister Sebastien Lecornu wrote on X on Saturday.

The French army has also been drafted in to help with the crisis as the blaze showed no signs of slowing down.

Spanish and French officials warned that winds were likely to exacerbate the fires.

Madrid’s regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso said that it marked the “worst fire in the history of the region” and that conditions had been made worse by a combination of high temperatures, wind and the merging of blazes.

The city’s emergency management chief Carlos Novillo told reporters earlier Friday that the fire was “at its peak and… currently beyond the capacity of firefighters to contain”.

In pictures: Wildfires rage across Europe

Fiirefighters spray water in a burning forest in the Lège-Cap-Ferret region (AP)

Members of the Kiat Yack Martial Arts Academy of Spanish, Moroccan, Colombian and Romanian origin move to help extinguish flames around the academy in the village of El Tiemblo, during wildfires affecting Castilla y Leon province, Spain, July 24, 2026. (Reuters)

A seaplane drops water onto the fire as a wildfire advances near La Adrada, Ávila province, Spain (AP)

Maira Butt25 July 2026 08:46

More than 200,000 evacuated in France and Spain as wildfires tear through southern Europe

Massive forest fires raging across southwestern France and central Spain have forced more than 200,000 people from their homes.

A blaze near Cap Ferret, located just 37 miles from Bordeaux on France’s Atlantic coast, has consumed some 48 square miles since Wednesday and has placed the this area, known for its stunning landscapes and upmarket resorts, under severe threat.

In Spain, the government declared a national emergency for wildfires for the first time as blazes in Madrid and the nearby province of Ávila prompted the evacuation from towns west of the capital.

Dozens of firefighters have been injured, authorities said, but no deaths were reported in either France or Spain.