Raging wildfires forced the evacuation of thousands of residents from the southwestern suburbs of Bordeaux and across central Spain on Saturday, July 25, 2026. High temperatures, sustained dry spells, and strong winds fueled the disaster, prompting France to deploy military transport aircraft and prime minister Sébastien Lecornu to describe the blazes as unprecedented.
Bordeaux Suburbs Evacuated as Firestorms Advance
Wildfires burning along the coast of southwestern France moved inland toward Bordeaux, forcing authorities to clear suburbs and establish emergency shelters. The Gironde prefect Sophie Brocas reported that roughly 197,000 people have been evacuated from the Gironde and Landes departments since the blazes ignited. Local authorities opened the Bordeaux-Lac Exhibition Centre as an emergency shelter to accommodate the displaced population.
The prefect also noted that the fire had destroyed about 140 homes in the region. Meanwhile, French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez stated that the flames remained about 30 kilometers from Bordeaux, while prefect Brocas confirmed that special alerts sent to mobile phones directed residents in the path of the firestorm to evacuate.
Unprecedented Conditions and Military Deployment
Meteorological data indicates that high temperatures in the affected French region averaged 32.2 degrees Celsius this July, sitting 7.3 degrees Celsius above the historical average recorded between 1961 and 1990. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu wrote on X that The fires that are hitting our country have reached a level that has never been seen before.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez later told reporters, We expect a fight that will be long and very difficult.
France’s armed forces have been drafted in to help overwhelmed fire brigades. On Saturday afternoon an A400M military transport aircraft, the biggest in France’s fleet, joined the effort by dumping liquid over a flame-hit forest, Reuters TV footage filmed from a helicopter showed. President Emmanuel Macron asked the Armed Forces to mobilize to provide maximum reinforcement to civil protection, while Sébastien Lecornu announced that the number of military personnel deployed in support of firefighters would increase from 500 to 1,000.
The intense wildfire activity began on Wednesday in Saumos, a commune north of the Arcachon basin, and progressed through a dense pine forest. The prosecutor of Bordeaux confirmed on Friday that the fire would have been caused by the use of a brush-clearing machine. With winds expected to shift in a west-to-east direction on Saturday afternoon, fire crews and authorities worked to dig trenches and use retardants.
Additional Evacuations and Impact on the Tour de France
Gironde prefect Sophie Brocas announced early Saturday morning that seven additional communes were ordered to evacuate in a preventive measure: Saint-Médard-en-Jalles, Le Haillan, Saint-Jean-d’Illac, Martignas-sur-Jalles, Saint-Aubin-de-Médoc, Mérignac, and Eysines. Along the north of the Arcachon basin, the communes of Sainte-Hélène, Salaunes, Lanton, and Audenge were also cleared of their inhabitants.
The crisis also affected major events, as race organizers and the Paris police department announced a truncated 21st and final stage for the Tour de France. Tour riders will race Sunday inside Paris on a circuit of 89 kilometers, down by a third from the planned 133-kilometer route starting from Thoiry. Part of the race’s security detail will instead reinforce response efforts in areas affected by the wildfires, according to the official statement.
Cross-Border Impact in Spain
Across the border, Spain faced its own severe crisis with three blazes in the vicinity of Madrid, two of which merged on Friday, prompting the declaration of the country’s first national emergency over a wildfire. A smaller brush fire outside Valencia resulted in the first reported fatality from the Spanish blazes, with an elderly man dying as confirmed by the municipality of Manises on its Facebook page. Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated across both France and Spain, while overall latest wildfires in southern Europe have displaced more than 250,000 people, including roughly 70,000 in central Spain.
