‘We stared into an abyss’: the men and women battling France’s megafire
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- The Gironde megafire has consumed 42,000 hectares of mostly forestland west of Bordeaux and continues producing daily outbreaks even though authorities say it is contained; a 'zombie fire' smouldering underground threatens fresh chaos in the coming days, weeks and months.
- Roughly 200,000 people were forced from their homes, with the village of Le Porge losing 20% of its housing; some evacuees are now being allowed home, though tens of thousands remain with relatives, friends or in hotels.
- Senior firefighters at Le Porge described the experience as 'staring into an abyss,' saying the operation has shifted from a 'war of manoeuvre' to a long 'war of attrition' as crews work 12-hour shifts under 35C heat.
- Local contractor Nicolas Di Domenico said the blaze was ignited by a spark from a faulty machine cleaning a high-tension cable near Saumos, and that workers' fire extinguishers were overwhelmed within minutes; he accused authorities of failing to halt forest work.
- CGT firefighting-section head Sebastien Delavoux said France's ageing firefighting-aircraft fleet was flagged as inadequate since 2017, warning the country has 'reached the extreme limit of what is possible for France's firefighters'.
- Carpenter Anthony Legrand and other residents in Lacanau linked the disaster to the climate crisis and a 2022 blaze nearby that 'no one paid attention to,' adding: 'They've got memories like goldfish.'
- Other European blazes compound pressure: Spain's 2026 cumulative fire count has set a new record for this time of year, three firefighters died in Crete, and 120 UK firefighters have battled a Suffolk blaze for three days.
Why it matters: The Gironde fire's scale and the CGT union's warnings dating back to 2017 expose France's firefighting-capacity gap just as EU peak wildfire season is still ahead. With Spain already breaking its 2026 record and three firefighters dead in Crete, residents returning to Gironde face a multi-month underground fire threat on top of a 20% housing loss in Le Porge.
