A house that withstood fire damage despite the raging blaze in Le Porge, about 40km from Bordeaux. © Manon Cruz, Reuters

Live: Bordeaux's mayor says 'ready for anything' as wildfire creeps toward city

· France 24

26/07/2026 - 14:36

French firefighters battle blazes with military cargo planes

Fire crews in France are battling unchecked wildfires that have forced more than 300,000 people to flee and were overwhelmed on Sunday as the unpredictable blazes advanced.

To help stop the flames from spreading, a giant A400M military cargo aircraft has been converted for firefighting in southwest France. Swooping low over arid, fire-threatened woodlands, the plane dropped a long plume of ochre-coloured retardant.

FRANCE 24's Charlotte Hughes tells us more about the techniques being used by French firefighters.

26/07/2026 - 14:10

Spain's King laments 'incalculable' natural damage from wildfires

Spain's King Felipe VI on Sunday said wildfires ravaging the countryside around Madrid and other areas had caused "incalculable" damage to the nation's natural heritage.

Around 75,000 residents have been evacuated from the Madrid region, Avila, Toledo and the eastern region of Castellon in Valencia.

Officials say overnight progress had been made containing the blazes even though difficulties still lay ahead.

"Some have had a very bad time, some have been away from their homes for four days now, some have lost many possessions. Collectively, we have lost an incalculable amount of natural heritage," the king told reporters on a visit to a shelter for those evacuated in Madrid.

26/07/2026 - 13:15

Bordeaux is 'ready for anything', mayor says

The mayor of Bordeaux in southwest France said authorities had no current plans to evacuate the population of the UNESCO-listed city due to raging forest fires but were "ready for anything". 

"We're very vigilant. We're ready for anything," Bordeaux mayor Thomas Cazenave said, adding that there were no current plans to move the city's 270,000 residents.

"The fire is further south," he told reporters at a shelter for people displaced by the wildfires.

"It is still on the edge of the metropolitan area, but it is not advancing on the western side of the metropolis," he said. He estimated that the flames raged between 25 and 30 kilometres from the city itself and around 15 kilometres from the metropolitan area near the town of Martignas-sur-Jalle.

The town of 8,000 people, located on the far western edge of the metropolitan area, has been evacuated.

26/07/2026 - 12:52

Residents to return to Scots village near Cairngorms wildfire

Evacuated residents of a village in Scotland threatened by a wildfire were to go back home Sunday, after authorities said a major incident had ended.

Around 650 people from Nethy Bridge in the Cairngorms national park were told to leave  Friday "as a precaution", as authorities battled a blaze which spread across some 600 hectares.

More than 500 firefighters with helicopters were deployed to battle the fire that had been burning for 11 days in the mountain park west of Aberdeen, which has long been a tourist attraction.

The region has seen weeks of dry weather, as much of Britain experiences an exceptionally hot summer with three heatwaves already recorded.

"Thanks to the efforts of fire crews ... and many others over the past 24 hours, there is no longer the immediate threat which prompted the evacuation of properties in Nethy Bridge," Police Scotland Superintendent Judy Hill said late Saturday.

She added that significant resources and volunteers were continuing to work in "challenging circumstances to extinguish the fires".

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said late Saturday that 75 firefighters remained on the ground tackling the remaining flames near Nethy Bridge.

26/07/2026 - 12:28

Fire whirlwinds hamper France's response

A total of 2,500 firefighters, including a Swiss firefighting team, 1,500 military personnel and around 1,200 police have been deployed to battle the blazes in the southwestern department of Gironde, French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said in a post on X.

26/07/2026 - 12:07

Spain's PM urges national 'climate emergency' pact

Spain needs a national pact on the "climate emergency", Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said as he visited the wildfire zone west of Madrid.

The disaster needs to lead to "a major public pact on the climate emergency" that would align central government and regional administrations, the left-wing leader said, hammering a proposal he had been fighting for before the fires erupted.

26/07/2026 - 11:32

Spain PM Sanchez says 'difficult hours' ahead but 'positive' developments in wildfire containment

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said difficult hours lay ahead in the fight against the country's wildfires, but officials had seen positive developments in controlling the blazes around Madrid.

"Difficult hours lie ahead admittedly, but the update we received here ... indicates that the night was very positive regarding the fire's progression, its containment, and the firefighting efforts," Sanchez told reporters on a visit to the Avila area affected by fires.

26/07/2026 - 11:12

'A devastating resurgence of the fire': Wildfires come within 20km of Bordeaux

FRANCE 24 reporter Luke Shrago shares the latest from the Gironde region in southwestern France, where an area around half the size of New York City has been burned up by raging wildfires.

26/07/2026 - 01:01

France evacuates 55,000 more as Bordeaux fires worsen

Officials in France's south-western Gironde region ordered the evacuation of another 55,000 people on the outskirts of Bordeaux as firefighters battled nearby wildfires.

Earlier, firefighters told AFP that the blaze had once again intensified to the point where it was capable of generating its own winds.

26/07/2026 - 10:49

France's wildfire situation 'remains very unfavourable' and 'unpredictable', interior minister says

French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the wildfire situation in southwestern France was "very unfavourable".

"Another difficult night on the wildfire front," Nuñez said on X. "The situation remains very unfavourable," he said. 

“The fire again became extremely virulent again and unpredictable, generating its own winds and advancing erratically toward the Bordeaux metropolitan area," Nunez said.

26/07/2026 - 10:27

'We see a longer fire season nearly everywhere': Why are Europe's wildfires getting more extreme?

Stefan Doerr, the director of the Centre for Wildfire Research at Swansea University, speaks to FRANCE 24 about some of the reasons why fire seasons across the world seem to be getting more and more severe.

26/07/2026 - 08:47

'Firefighters are hoping that more of those fires don't join up': Spain steps up wildfire response

FRANCE 24's Madrid correspondent Sarah Morris reports on what authorities have called a "difficult night" for the firefighters struggling to tackle the spreading wildfires near Madrid and Toledo.

26/07/2026 - 08:17

French wildfire will take 'a long time to bring under control', interior minister says

The main fire raging in southwest France "will take a long time to bring under control", Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said in an interview published Sunday by La Tribune.

He added that "there will be no return" for evacuated residents and tourists until the fire is contained.

The regional prefecture said that the fire has now burned some 42,000 hectares of land, making it one of the biggest in France since World War II. A 1949 fire devastated some 50,000 hectares.

26/07/2026 - 07:01

French authorities say 220,000 people have now been evacuated from largest forest fire

French authorities said Sunday that 220,000 people have now been evacuated from the main forest fire raging in the southwest of the country that now threatens the city of Bordeaux.

The latest evacuations have been in villages around Bordeaux, while 60 kilometres of the main A63 highway from Bordeaux to the Spanish border has been closed because of the fires, regional authorities said. Tens of thousands more have been evacuated from other wildfires in France and central Spain.

26/07/2026 - 06:48

Thousands crowd emergency shelters as wildfires force exodus in France and Spain

Thousands crowded into emergency shelters in France and Spain on Sunday after wildfires drove more than 300,000 people to flee their homes and holiday accommodation.

The blazes have destroyed houses, displaced people on a massive scale and triggered one of the largest peacetime civilian evacuation operations ever carried out in France.

One person was killed in eastern Spain and fresh evacuations were ordered around the French city of Bordeaux and the Spanish capital Madrid.

Families slept on camp beds in exhibition halls and gymnasiums after fleeing walls of smoke and flames that swept through forests and tourist areas, leaving residents and holidaymakers uncertain if they would be able to return.

"We were told: 'You have to evacuate'," said Frederic Tavitian, 70, who spent the night at Bordeaux's exhibition centre, converted into a vast emergency shelter.

"We saw columns of smoke, like a volcano about to erupt."

26/07/2026 - 03:14

Major autoroute closed in Gironde

Sophie Brocas, the prefect of Gironde and the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, ordered a partial closure order of the A63.

"South-North sine: closure between Interchange 17 of Liposthey and Interchange 24 located in Cestas. North-South direction: closure between the ring road and interchange 23, located in Marcheprime," says the message published on X.

The message asks the population to avoid the sector at all costs.

26/07/2026 - 03:12

Emmanuel Macron thanks the European Union and several European countries for their help in fighting fires

26/07/2026 - 02:46

26/07/2026 - 01:38

Thousands of soldiers and security deployed in France to assist firefighters

France has deployed 1,500 soldiers and 1,700 security personnel to assist firefighters near Bordeaux, and on Saturday an A400M military transport aircraft joined the fleet of smaller planes already dousing the flames.

Dozens of firefighters were deployed from Paris to reinforce the response. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said a total of 1,400 firefighters were tackling the blazes.

26/07/2026 - 01:05

Spain orders more evacuations as Madrid wildfires worsen

Spain's interior ministry announced a fresh round of evacuations late on Saturday as wildfires raged near Madrid, including in the province of Toledo, south-west of the Spanish capital.

"The situation is complex," Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told reporters.

"Today, we are somewhat more pessimistic than yesterday. Weather conditions – as you have seen throughout the day – have not helped at all. The night ahead does not look favourable; it will not be an easy one for us," he warned.

(France 24 with Reuters, AP and AFP)