More than 160,000 people were evacuated in France and Spain amid raging uncontrolled forest fires that broke out on Saturday near Madrid and Bordeaux. The army was deployed in France to combat the country's largest forest fire.
Scale of the Disaster and Government Response
The smell of burning reached central Madrid early Saturday morning, as Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez prepared to visit the area affected by what officials called the worst fire in the region in history. The main hotspots burned for two or three days, and hundreds of firefighters battled them around the clock, reaching exhaustion. Both countries requested assistance from the European Union.
French President Emmanuel Macron ordered the deployment of military forces on Friday to the fire zone, which affected both residents and vacationers during the peak holiday season in France. French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez stated that the country had never seen fires of such scale before.
Situation in the Regions
A local French official warned that the flames near Bordeaux threaten the extended territory of the city, known for its prestigious wineries. Temporary shelters were set up in schools and gyms in southwestern France for tourists and local residents who lost their homes. Caroline Larrod, 49, who fled from Saumois on Friday, said she had nowhere to stay and was housed in a large hangar in Bordeaux along with animals.
According to French and Spanish officials, at least 141,000 people have been evacuated in southwestern France, and 25,000 in the Madrid region, including over 1,200 elderly people and people with disabilities. Additionally, nearly 40,000 people in Spain were instructed to stay at home.
These unprecedented fires in France and Spain were triggered by dry forests that had dried out after a series of heatwaves that began in May. Scientists note that climate change is making drought conditions more frequent and intensifying extreme weather events.
Fires Around Madrid
Sánchez was scheduled to participate in an emergency planning meeting in Senisentes, a village in the heart of the fire zone west of Madrid, where he planned to speak to journalists. Two of the three major fires near Madrid merged into one, threatening to become a huge fire front just a few kilometers from the capital. Carlos Novillo, an environmental official from the Madrid regional government, told journalists on Friday that the fire was 'at its peak and... currently exceeds the firefighting capabilities.'
Audio-visual technician Luis, who fled from the suburb, said he helped those evacuated from the village of Pelayos de la Presa when he received the evacuation order. He noted that he cried at first because it was his childhood home, but now feels more anger and resignation due to the inability to return and see what remains.
The representative of the Spanish government in Madrid, Francisco Martín, used the forecast of lower temperatures on Saturday to declare a 'real possibility of handling this fire with guaranteed success.' However, he warned that Saturday would still be 'difficult' as stronger winds were expected in the morning with quite unpredictable gusts.
Destroyed Areas in France
In France, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu convened a crisis meeting with key ministers late Friday and announced the deployment of 1,000 military personnel to counter the flames, which have already destroyed 22,000 hectares—an area roughly twice the size of Paris. In an X post, Lecornu also promised to deliver 1.5 million protective masks to the Gironde department surrounding Bordeaux 'to protect personnel and the population exposed to smoke.'
About 44,000 people left the Cap-Ferret peninsula, located south of Bordeaux and known for its millionaire residences; many of them were forced to leave by boat. In the village of Andernos, Maria Lalanne, a 90-year-old woman fleeing from Lez-Cap-Ferret, sat on a cot in a gym without her glasses and hearing aid, which she left at home. She reported suffering from heart disease, high blood pressure, and vision problems, and does not know how long the situation will last or what happened to her home.
According to authorities, about 40 out of 1,000 firefighters battling the fire in Cap-Ferret were injured. Three people died in forest fires in France and Italy this week. The largest active fire in Spain continued to burn in the province of Guadalajara, about 100 km north of Madrid, where it destroyed about 32,000 hectares.
