On July 24, 2026, French authorities ordered the evacuation of nearly 60,000 people near Bordeaux, bringing the total number of evacuees in France and Spain to over 220,000. The majority, around 200,000, are from south-west France, specifically the Gironde and Landes regions. French President Emmanuel Macron has deployed the military to support the response efforts. Meanwhile, in Spain, a massive fire near Madrid has merged with two other fires, prompting officials to warn that it is beyond their capacity to contain. Spain’s government has declared a national emergency, with 25,000 people evacuated and 40,000 instructed to stay indoors.
According to Carlos Novillo, the Madrid regional government’s emergency management chief, the wildfire is at its peak and currently uncontrollable. The Military Emergency Unit has been deployed to protect areas near the town of El Escorial. Authorities are also monitoring a separate wildfire in Ávila province, where officials fear it could merge with the Madrid fire. At least 6,000 hectares of land have burned in the Madrid region, and the Ávila blaze has consumed almost 9,000 hectares. Eight municipalities have been evacuated, with several other towns under lockdown.
Ecologio Cabrera, an 86-year-old evacuee, described the experience as devastating, saying ‘if you don’t run from it and you try to face it, it devours you.’ The situation has been described as a ‘perfect storm’ of high temperatures, wind, and merging fire fronts, with Madrid’s regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso calling it the ‘worst fire in the history of the region.’,
Image for illustration purposes only
📰 Source: BBC World