Over 300,000 Evacuated as France, Spain Battle Wildfires
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- Pedro Sánchez warned of "difficult hours" ahead while noting overnight progress containing the Madrid-area fires, and called for "a major public pact on the climate emergency."
- French authorities ordered roughly 55,000 people near Bordeaux to evacuate as the Gironde wildfire consumed an area four times the size of Paris and destroyed at least 240 homes.
- Nearly 260,000 people have been evacuated across France and more than 90,000 in Spain around Madrid and Ávila, with Sánchez's government having declared a national emergency — only the second time ever after the April 2025 blackout.
- Spain's Military Emergencies Unit (UME) contained major areas of the Madrid wildfire using 1,200 soldiers and 400 vehicles across three active fire zones in Madrid, Ávila, and Valencia.
- A new fire front near the coastal city of Valencia forced the overnight evacuation of at least 15,000 people, expanding the crisis beyond the Madrid region.
- EU crisis management commissioner Hadja Lahbib warned another "historical, sad record" of burned acreage is likely, noting last year's 1 million hectares already burned across the EU and another heatwave forecast.
- Madrid regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso announced a €1m emergency fund for affected livestock farmers as her regional government began assessing losses to "thousands of Madrid families."
Why it matters: The crisis has already displaced more than 350,000 people and the Gironde fire has consumed land four times the size of Paris, with Bordeaux's mayor warning the crisis could last "several days or several weeks." Multiple EU countries are sending aircraft and fire crews while forecasters warn of more heatwaves coming — meaning the evacuation total is likely to keep climbing.
