France evacuates 4,000 more as Bordeaux wildfire defies control

Lege-capferret,UPDATED: Jul 29, 2026 09:28 IST

French authorities on Tuesday ordered 4,000 more people to leave tourist sites along the Atlantic coast as a vast wildfire west of Bordeaux remained difficult to control. Fresh flames broke out near Grand Crohot, a popular beach on the Lege-Cap-Ferret peninsula, and a fleet of 23 planes and helicopters, up from 18, dropped water and fire retardant to stop the fire from spreading.

The latest evacuation came even as about 60,000 residents who had been moved out as a precaution from Le Haillan and parts of Merignac and Eysines outside Bordeaux were told they could return because no fire had broken out there. Across France and Spain, about 330,000 people have been forced from homes and holiday sites by major wildfires, though Spanish authorities also began easing some evacuation and stay-at-home orders after overnight progress.

Gironde prefect Sophie Brocas said, "The situation remains complicated. That's clear. We're not out of the woods." Residents returning to the areas outside Bordeaux were told to keep their mobile phones on and emergency bags packed, underlining how uncertain the situation remained.

The Gironde fire has burned an area four times the size of Paris and forced 220,000 people to evacuate. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez has said it is "very likely" the biggest civilian evacuation operation in France outside wartime. The latest precautionary evacuation covered campsites, holiday villages, tourist residences and leisure parks around the resort of Lacanau, regional authorities said.

Eric Brocardi, spokesperson for France's national firefighters federation, told BFMTV, "We are at a point of fragility. We will continue attacking this fire despite the forecast rise in temperatures." Even with homes burning nearby and officials asking tourists to stay away, some chose not to cancel their holidays. Le Parisien reported that one family went ahead with its trip rather than lose a 4,000-euro holiday, while another group debated leaving a holiday that had cost 650 euros per person.

At its most intense, the Gironde fire created a huge black thundercloud lit from within, generating lightning, strong winds and new fires beyond the main front. The phenomenon, known as a pyrocumulonimbus cloud, was the first recorded in France. The national weather service placed Gironde under a yellow heat warning from midday Tuesday, with inland temperatures forecast at 33 to 35 degrees Celsius. According to the Interior Ministry, more than 1,160 square kilometres have burned across France this year.

In Le Porge, west of Bordeaux, local authorities said about 150 homes were destroyed. Officials warned that smouldering vegetation, rising temperatures and falling humidity could trigger fresh flare-ups along the vast fire perimeter. Military engineers and forest-fire prevention teams resumed cutting firebreaks early Tuesday, and authorities said 103 kilometres of firebreaks had been completed. At least 110 firefighters have been injured, the prefecture said.

In Landes, about 15,000 evacuees, roughly half of those displaced by a separate wildfire, were allowed to return home after the fire stopped advancing. President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday evening, "The fire is fixed, which is good news in the Landes." Regional officials said that meant its forward spread had stopped and no new outbreaks had been reported. Those allowed back included residents of Sanguinet, Parentis-en-Born, Biscarrosse's aviation village and a large campsite, though several other neighbourhoods remained closed. Authorities said the fire was not extinguished and warned that hot spots, wind and drought could still cause flare-ups for days or weeks.

In Spain, firefighters made progress on Tuesday and authorities began lifting evacuation orders for at least 20,000 of the 79,000 people forced to flee over the weekend. Francisco Martin, the central government's representative in the Madrid region, said orders would be lifted in 10 towns, allowing about 20,000 people to return home, while stay-at-home orders for another 14,000 people would also end. Residents of some villages in Avila were also being allowed back, and another 6,000 people could return after a smaller fire near Toledo was brought under control. Several thousand more went home in Castellon.

Hundreds of firefighters, backed by military emergency brigades and water-dropping aircraft, continued to battle several major fires. Smoke from the blazes reached Madrid in recent days, and emergency services said people in central and eastern districts could smell smoke and ash. Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said nonstop work through the night left him "reasonably positive", though officials warned crews had only a short window before extreme heat returned. Spain's weather service said the country was preparing for its fourth heat wave of the summer, with temperatures expected to cross 40 degrees Celsius in some places. The government declared a national emergency over the fires.

At least 13 people have died in wildfires in Spain this year, making it one of the country's deadliest fire seasons in decades. The greatest concern remained two large fires in wooded hills about an hour west of Madrid that had at times come close to joining. A fire in hilly rural terrain in Avila has become Spain's largest on record, burning more than 500 square kilometres, the government said. Weather officials in Avila also shared images of what they described as a pyrocumulonimbus cloud over the blaze, a phenomenon seen at least twice in Spain during recent wildfire seasons.

"I've been living in San Martin de Valdeiglesias for 20 years and I never thought I would see this," said Estella Costales, an evacuated resident staying at a temporary shelter in Brunete near Madrid. "It's unfortunate, but I never thought I would see such destruction." In Avila, 48-year-old gardener David Gonzalez, who used his van to deliver supplies to firefighters, said, "Look at how the valley is burned. Look at the houses, the people. We are feeling a lot of anger and helplessness. It's something inhuman." Ecology Minister Sara Aagesen said fires have burned 1,530 square kilometres in Spain this year, while Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has called for a national pact to fight wildfires.

The fires in France and Spain continued to shift between evacuations, returns and renewed flare-ups on Tuesday, with officials in both countries warning that heat, wind and dry conditions could quickly worsen the situation again.

With PTI Inputs

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