Paris: More than 12,000 people have been evacuated from southwestern France as firefighters continue battling large wildfires that have scorched thousands of hectares of land.
The evacuations come just days after two firefighters lost their lives near Bordeaux Airport, with authorities maintaining strict emergency measures across affected areas.
According to officials in the Gironde region, more than 2,000 hectares of land have been destroyed by the fires. Authorities have banned the use of both internal combustion and electric engines in heavily forested areas to reduce the risk of new fires, while several roads have been closed. No injuries were reported on July 23.
🔴 AVISOS ROJOS | Temperaturas máximas muy altas. Jueves 23.
➡️ 42 °C o más en litorales sur de Valencia y Alicante, La Mancha albaceteña, y zona de Hellín y Almansa.
➡️ Más de 44 °C en Vega del Segura y Valle del Guadalentín, Lorca y Águilas.
⚠️ Peligro extraordinario. pic.twitter.com/Rwm67LI01u
— AEMET (@AEMET_Esp) July 23, 2026
The Gironde region remains under a red alert, with some recreational sites in vulnerable forest areas closed during the afternoon and evening. The latest reports say that around 10,000 tourists were among those evacuated.
France has also been mourning the two firefighters who died earlier this week while responding to the wildfires. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez paid tribute during a ceremony on July 22, expressing his gratitude for their service and offering support to their families.
Residents described rapidly worsening conditions as the fires spread. Yassmina de Freitas, a 19-year-old from the coastal town of Le Porge, noted that smoke and the smell of burning became noticeable around lunchtime on July 22 before ash and burnt tree bark began falling from the sky.
By evening, she and her family were evacuated by law enforcement to a nearby gymnasium, leaving behind two cats and four chickens that could not be found in time. Additional evacuations were carried out on July 23 morning on the Lège-Cap-Ferret Peninsula, south of Le Porge.
In southeastern France’s Var region, some residents were allowed to return home to assess damage but were warned they might need to evacuate again if conditions deteriorated. Météo-France has placed parts of the region under a very high forest fire risk warning.
In Italy, authorities paid tribute to firefighter Alessandro Marchi, who died while battling a wildfire in San Cataldo. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi described him as having died “in service to the community,” while Sicily President Renato Schifani wished another injured firefighter a speedy recovery.
According to Salvo Cocina, head of the Sicilian Civil Protection agency, the island recorded more than 350 fires, including 10 major blazes that prompted precautionary evacuations. He said the fires were caused by human activity and warned that wildfire response has become both a social and public order challenge.
Wildfires in Spain
Wildfires have also affected Spain, where most residents evacuated from areas around Madrid were allowed to return home overnight, except those in Villa del Prado, where a nearby fire remains active.
Nearly 90 emergency personnel and a helicopter have been deployed to contain the blaze, while local authorities continue to warn of an extreme fire risk. Spain’s national weather agency AEMET forecast temperatures of up to 36°C on July 23.
The latest wildfires come after months of unusually intense heat across Europe. A report published in April by the Copernicus Climate Change Service found that at least 95 percent of Europe experienced above-average annual temperatures in 2025, identifying the continent as the fastest-warming region globally. The report also noted that both wildfire-burned areas and fire emissions reached record levels last year.
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