France, Spain Battle Wildfires as New Heatwave Approaches
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- France has evacuated 220,000 people as the Gironde wildfire rages, with the mayor of Cestas reporting 42,000 hectares burned and 240 houses destroyed in his town alone, where 17,000 residents fled overnight two days ago.
- President Macron visited the fire-ravaged Gironde region and called the blaze a "completely unprecedented wildfire"—"the toughest since World War Two"—while warning that rising temperatures and persistent wind mean firefighters cannot yet relax.
- Spain entered its fifth consecutive day of national emergency on Monday, with more than 27,000 hectares burned west of Madrid after blazes in Almorox, Villa del Prado and San Martín de Valdeiglesias merged into one massive fire.
- Spain's national weather service warned that a new heatwave is forecast to last "at least" until Sunday with temperatures exceeding 40°C and "extreme" fire risk, while France's Gironde and Landes regions were placed under yellow alert.
- Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said France is enduring an "unprecedented fire season" with 116,085 hectares burned and 13,566 fire starts recorded since January—nine in 10 human-caused—and noted 162 arson arrests since 6 July.
- Bordeaux mayor Thomas Cazenave said the city is preparing to shelter "a large number of people" as one of the blazes burns just 15km from the city, with crews racing to build firebreaks against flying embers and shifting winds.
Why it matters: With 220,000 evacuated in France and 100,000 more in Spain, the dual wildfires match the scale Macron called "unprecedented since World War Two." French data shows nine of 10 fires this year were human-caused, with 162 arson arrests since 6 July—complicating any narrative that pins the crisis solely on climate change.
