France wildfire sees crucial pause as heat threatens fresh flare-ups

Lege-capferret,UPDATED: Jul 28, 2026 14:12 IST

Firefighters held a vast wildfire in southwest France in check overnight into Tuesday, bringing flare-ups near Atlantic coast dunes under control in what authorities described as a crucial pause before rising temperatures and falling humidity threaten to test their grip on the blaze. The Gironde prefecture said the fire was still stabilised at 6 am after a calm night, with the burned area unchanged at 420 square kilometres.

The wider emergency now stretches across southwestern Europe. Fires in France and Spain have forced about 330,000 people to leave their homes or holiday accommodation, while Spain entered its fourth heat wave of the summer on Tuesday with several blazes still out of control, including the largest ever recorded in the country.

In France, authorities said several flare-ups were detected overnight north of Le Porge and in dunes north of Cap Ferret, but firefighters brought them under control. The affected areas lie along the Atlantic coast west of Bordeaux, where crews have been battling the fire since it broke out near Saumos last week.

"We are at a point of fragility," Eric Brocardi, spokesperson for France's national firefighters federation, told BFMTV on Tuesday. "We will continue attacking this fire despite the forecast rise in temperatures." Officials stressed that the overnight calm did not mean the danger was over, as the blaze remained stabilised rather than fixed, meaning it could still spread again.

The fire has been burning since last week and has at times turned into a self-feeding firestorm. It has scorched an area four times the size of Paris and forced 220,000 people to evacuate. Even after 24 hours without further advance, officials warned that smouldering vegetation, rising temperatures and falling humidity could trigger fresh outbreaks along the huge perimeter.

Firefighters and military engineers resumed work early on Tuesday on tactical firebreaks meant to stop the flames from spreading further. Authorities said 103 kilometres of firebreaks had been completed. The prefecture said 93 firefighters had been injured while battling the blaze. The A63 motorway remained partly closed, and rail traffic south of Bordeaux stayed suspended except on the route towards Toulouse.

In neighbouring Landes, there was clearer progress on a separate wildfire, with thousands of evacuees allowed to return after the fire was fixed. That blaze had forced more than 30,000 residents and holidaymakers to leave. "The fire is fixed, which is good news in the Landes," French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday evening. Regional authorities said this meant the fire's advance had been stopped and no new outbreaks were being recorded.

About 15,000 people were allowed to return home on Monday night in Sanguinet, Parentis-en-Born and parts of Biscarrosse. Those permitted back included residents of Biscarrosse's aviation village and a large campsite, though several other neighbourhoods remained out of bounds. Authorities said the Landes fire was not extinguished, and warned that hot spots, wind and drought could still cause flare-ups, with monitoring and damping-down operations likely to continue for days or even weeks.

The gains in both French fire zones faced an immediate test as temperatures started rising again on Tuesday. France's national weather service put Gironde under a yellow heat warning from midday, forecasting inland temperatures of 33 to 35 degrees Celsius. South-easterly winds were expected across the department, along with westerly sea breezes on the coast. According to the Interior Ministry, more than 116,000 hectares have burned across France so far this year. The European Union's Copernicus climate service said western Europe recorded its hottest June on record, with extreme heat and widespread dryness helping fires spread and intensify in France and Spain.

In Spain, hundreds of firefighters, backed by military emergency brigades and water-dropping aircraft, continued to battle several major wildfires. Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said nonstop work through the night left him "reasonably positive", but he warned that conditions could worsen as temperatures rose again. Spain's national weather service said the country was entering its fourth heat wave of the summer on Tuesday, with temperatures expected to cross 40 degrees Celsius in some places.

Authorities in Spain have evacuated around 79,000 people and ordered another 30,000 to remain in their homes during what has become an unprecedented crisis. The government has declared a national emergency for wildfires for the first time. The main concern remained two large fires in wooded hills about an hour's drive west of Madrid, which have at times come close to merging into a single mega-blaze. Another fire in the eastern province of Castellon also led to mass evacuations.

A fire burning through hilly rural terrain in Avila, west of Madrid, has become Spain's largest on record, scorching more than 500 square kilometres, the government said. That is five times the size of Barcelona. "Look at how the valley is burned. Look at the houses, the people," said David Gonzalez, a 48-year-old gardener who used his van to deliver supplies to firefighters in Avila. "We are feeling a lot of anger and helplessness. It's something inhuman," he said.

Ecology Minister Sara Aagesen said fires have burned 1,530 square kilometres in Spain this year, six times the area scorched by blazes in the first half of 2025. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has called for a national pact to fight wildfires made worse by climate change. For now, France has managed to hold its biggest blaze in check and make progress on a second fire, while Spain faces a worsening test as extreme heat returns.

With PTI Inputs

- Ends