375,000 Evacuated as Wildfires Rage Across France and Spain
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- Wildfires in France and Spain have forced about 375,000 people to evacuate, with nearly 260,000 displaced in France and 116,000 in Spain as the blazes continue across southern Europe.
- France is battling a huge wildfire near Bordeaux, while forecasters warned another heatwave could hit from Tuesday with temperatures reaching 40C (104F) in some areas.
- Pedro Sánchez warned that Spain and the Iberian peninsula are suffering the effects of the climate emergency as fires rage across the region.
- Patrick, 77, was forced to hitchhike 42 miles back to Bordeaux after trains were cancelled, holding a cardboard sign reading "Bordeaux SVP. Urgence!" — only later learning the two drivers who picked him up lived in areas where houses were burned.
- Alexandra, 44, holidaying at Lacanau Océan in Gironde, cut her break short after seeing an "apocalyptic" scene on the sand dunes and was woken at 2:45am by a mobile alert ordering evacuation of her airport hotel near Bordeaux.
- Jason, 53, from Cardiff, abandoned his family's three-week holiday after ash began falling from the sky at Lacanau Océan, declaring the region — where they had holidayed for over 20 years — "empty" and saying this will be their last visit.
Why it matters: With 375,000 people evacuated and an incoming heatwave forecast to push temperatures to 40C, the crisis is actively expanding rather than abating, hitting a tourism-dependent region at peak season. Holidaymakers who have visited for decades now say they won't return, signaling both immediate economic damage and a longer-term erosion of southern Europe's summer travel market.
