Wildfires force mass evacuations in France and Spain

Wildfires racing through France and Spain have forced more than 250,000 people from homes and holiday resorts, as governments deployed soldiers, aircraft and foreign assistance to battle blazes that officials described as unprecedented.

Spain declared a national emergency as fires burned near Madrid and in neighboring regions. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, visiting the fire zone near the village of Cenicientos, said the immediate goal was to “save lives” and warned of difficult hours ahead.

“Our priority, our thinking, our aim is for your lives, to save your lives and protect inhabited areas,” Sanchez told reporters after an emergency planning meeting. “We are going to have some complex hours ahead because although the temperatures have gone down, we do not know exactly how the wind will develop, how strong it will be.”

Carlos Novillo, the Madrid regional government’s emergency management chief, said the wildfire near the capital was “at its peak and is currently beyond the capacity of firefighters to contain.” Thick smoke spread west of Madrid, while black ash coated roof terraces in parts of the capital’s north and residents kept windows shut against throat-irritating smoke.

Spain’s interior ministry said flames had ravaged nearly 10,000 hectares in the Madrid region and between 13,000 and 15,000 hectares in Avila province. The ministry said 70,000 people had been evacuated. Sanchez said fires have burned 130,000 hectares of forest in Spain so far this year, above the annual average of 100,000 hectares over the past decade, and said improved weather Saturday offered “a window of opportunity” for crews.

Among those ordered out was Luis, an audiovisual technician who had spent the afternoon helping evacuees from Pelayos de la Presa before being told to leave. “I cried at first because it’s where I grew up. But now, it’s more a feeling of anger and resignation, because there’s nothing we can do as long as we’re not allowed to go back and see what we’ll find there,” he told AFPTV.

In France, authorities evacuated thousands more people from suburbs near Bordeaux, including Le Haillan, Eysines and Merignac, as fires around the city showed no sign of easing. About 44,000 people fled the Cap Ferret peninsula south of Bordeaux, where the only road was threatened by flames. Boats carried hundreds away, others drove out, and more than 50 houses were destroyed, Al Jazeera reported.

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said 197,000 people had been evacuated from the Gironde and Landes regions, while CBS News reported that Interior Minister Laurent Nunez put the national evacuation figure at at least 167,000. Nunez said nearly 98,000 hectares — about 242,000 acres — had burned across France, calling it a “historic record.”

“The fires which are hitting our country have reached a level that has never been seen before,” Lecornu wrote on X. He said the Gironde blaze had become strong enough to generate its own winds and added: “Our priority is clear: protecting human lives.” Evacuation orders, he said, “must be respected without delay.”

President Emmanuel Macron deployed 1,000 soldiers near Bordeaux and ordered an A400M military transport aircraft, modified to release 20 tons of fire retardant, to join smaller firefighting planes. About 100 Paris firefighters were also sent to the southwest, adding to 45 firefighters and six vehicles already deployed there.

Spain and France sought help from European partners. Italy sent two Canadair water-dropping planes to Spain, which also expected aircraft from Greece and had planes from the Netherlands and Portugal. France expected water-bombers from Croatia and Portugal and heavy-lift Black Hawk helicopters from the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Officials said dozens of French firefighters had been injured, but no deaths were reported in either country. Emergency shelters opened in schools, gymnasiums and a Bordeaux hangar for residents and tourists. “We had no one to put us up,” said Caroline Larrode, 49, who fled Saumos with her three cats.

The fires followed successive heatwaves and dry conditions in parts of Europe. Scientists say global warming is increasing droughts and making weather emergencies more extreme and frequent, while the World Weather Attribution group said drought linked to human-fueled climate change has heightened wildfire risk this year. Satellite data from the European Forest Fire Information System shows the total area burned so far this year across EU countries is the second largest on record.