Large fires in France and Spain are forcing the evacuation of 330,000 people as another heat wave approaches.
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France’s interior minister said Monday that wildfires had stopped growing after forcing 220,000 people to evacuate their homes in the country’s southwest, but warned it was not yet over.
“It has not progressed overnight,” said the minister, Laurent Nunez. “We have to stay very focused, very determined, to go at any time.”
He spoke after French President Emmanuel Macron held a press conference on Monday focused on a major firefighting effort in the Gironde region and wildfires elsewhere.
The Gironde fire burned an area four times the size of Paris. The region’s regional government said the overnight situation remained “globally stable” – a change from the previous days when a huge fire had been burning since last week and was approaching the city of Bordeaux.
In the nearby southwestern region of Landes, where hundreds of firefighters have been advancing against another powerful but small fire, the region said some rain had fallen overnight and described conditions as “favorable” for firefighting but warned that they could change.
No new releases have been announced. But with France about to enter its peak tourist season in August, the Gironde authorities took extra steps to keep tourists away, closing holiday camps for children and people with disabilities.
Fast-spreading and deadly wildfires in France and Spain have forced more than 300,000 people to evacuate, and there are fears that an approaching heat wave could worsen the situation.
With thousands of firefighters on the ground and rotating water- and air-dropping planes, the massive firefighting effort was caught in a race against time, scrambling to make progress before a rise in temperatures forecast from Tuesday could make fighting the flames even more difficult.
Crews using earth movers tear up patches of forest and wasteland to create wilderness areas, which are intended to stop fires from spreading. The farmers kept the firemen supplied with water, taking it to them in tankers. About a dozen countries have provided planes, helicopters, firefighters and other aid to France and Spain, which are also battling the unprecedented flames. In total, the fires in both countries have forced more than 330,000 people to flee.
Macron did not immediately comment after the government crisis meeting he chaired. In a post on X over the weekend, he promised long-term support for communities hit by the fire, saying: “We will rebuild, we will repair and we will be there as long as necessary.”
Spain is battling its biggest fires ever
In Spain, wildfires have burned out of control in Madrid and the Valencia region. Authorities evacuated 76,000 people and locked another 30,000 in their homes.
In both Spain and France, the level of unusual fires – fueled by heat waves that hit hard and earlier this year, making forests and scrubland tinder-dry – call for strong action against climate change.
“What we are dealing with is not a series of isolated incidents. It is the result of a climate emergency that makes wildfires more violent, heat waves more frequent,” said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
A fire in the hilly, rural area of Avila, west of Madrid, has become Spain’s largest on record, burning 50,000 hectares, the government said. That’s five times the size of Barcelona.
Fires have burned 153,000 hectares this year in Spain – six times the area burned in the first half of 2025, said Sara Aagesen, the environment minister.
The minister said another heat wave forecast from Tuesday – which would be Spain’s fourth so far this year – could end the fire danger.
The evacuees are worried about what they will find if they are allowed to return to the affected areas.
“It looked like the apocalypse. You couldn’t see anything. Everything was covered in ash,” said Rocio Dominguez, who came out with his dog, Simba, from Chapineria, west of Madrid.
“We don’t know when we arrive in the city, we will burn part of the house or we will repair it completely or we will not have it,” he said. “All the clothes, all the memories, everything.”
Canadair planes are fighting a fire in Italy
A wildfire driven by strong winds broke out Sunday afternoon near Peschici, in the southern Italian region of Puglia, burning a pine forest and scrub and forcing the evacuation of about 300 tourists from beaches and campsites, authorities said.
The Coast Guard evacuated the tourists by sea to nearby Vieste, where authorities opened temporary shelters.
Three Canadian water bombers and ground fire fighters continued Monday to battle the blaze, which revived memories of devastating fires that swept through the same coastal area in 2007.
