France and Spain race to contain fires before new heatwave

• France and Spain are fighting historic wildfires that have destroyed vast areas, forced massive evacuations and damaged hundreds of homes amid worsening heatwaves.
• French President Macron and Spanish officials warn of tough weeks ahead as fires create dangerous conditions including rare pyrocumulonimbus clouds and self-generated winds.
• The EU is sending more water-bombing planes, but firefighting is challenged by extreme heat, climate change effects and rising wildfire danger across Europe.

NAVALUENGA, Spain – Firefighters in France and Spain rushed to contain the worst wildfires in living memory on July 28, seizing crucial hours before the arrival of another wave of searing temperatures.

Blazes have ripped through vast swathes of woodland in both countries, incinerating properties and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people – residents and tourists alike.

A large wildfire raging near the French winemaking capital of Bordeaux created a rare pyrocumulonimbus cloud – a phenomenon that can create wind and lightning.

In the south-western city’s surrounding Gironde region, tractors fitted with blades to clear land, pickups towing water tanks and logging trucks sped to join a convoy of fire engines on July 27.

“We want to help... I want nature to stay like it is,” said 25-year-old farmer and wood transporter Christopher Bonnefond.

‘Absolutely decisive’

New heatwaves are expected to hit western Europe this week, with searing temperatures returning in France from July 28, and in Spain from July 29, meteorologists said.

Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said the coming hours would be “absolutely decisive” to tame fires burning west of the capital, Madrid.

In France, the focus was on the blaze near Bordeaux.

Firefighters said on July 28 the fire had not expanded overnight as they managed to tackle several flare-ups.

French President Emmanuel Macron warned of hard times ahead as he visited a crisis centre in the city on July 27.

“The coming weeks will be tough and we have to hold out,” he said.

Over the past six days, the wildfire near Bordeaux has ravaged 42,000ha, forced 220,000 people to flee and destroyed 240 houses.

“Mobilisation is still full and complete, particularly on the eve of a day that is expected to be marked by a significant rise in temperatures and a drop in humidity,” the prefect of Gironde said late on July 27, describing the situation as “highly unpredictable”.

‘Lost everything’

Macron said a smaller fire in the adjoining Landes – which had nonetheless forced the evacuation of more than 30,000 people – was now “contained”.

But he warned it “remains virulent and we must be extremely cautious over the next few hours and the coming days”.

This was due to the “conditions of climate change in which we will live,” he said.

The Landes fire affected 500ha in 24 hours, the fire department told AFP.

Some 15,000 people in the region were able to return home as at the evening of July 27, according to the prefect of Landes.

In Spain, where blazes were burning west of Madrid, some 60,000 people have also been evacuated.

At a sports hall just outside Madrid, displaced people sprawled on camp beds, held their heads in their hands, and comforted their pets.

Maria Angeles Canete fought back tears as she looked around the desolation that used to be her campsite near Navaluenga, west of the capital.

“We lost everything,” she said. “We had this campsite, we had another one, and we’ve lost it all. We have nothing.”

The European Union on July 27 announced that more water-bombing planes were being sent to France, in addition to those already deployed to Spain.

But EU commissioner Hadja Lahbib told AFP that its fleet was increasingly stretched because of fears they may soon be needed elsewhere.

“Extreme conditions are looming for Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, in addition to France, the Iberian Peninsula... where the situation is expected to worsen, including in Portugal starting today,” she said.

Devastation

The scale of the devastation from the fires is vast in the worst-affected areas.

Pine trees smouldered with blackened trunks, and smoke rose from charred forests, with the burnt-out husks of cars and houses reduced to shells, AFP reporters said.

“You run to save what you can, and then you turn to defend,” said Karim Benali, 39, a volunteer firefighter on a road near Navaluenga, in Spain.

That country has seen 77,000ha – nearly the size of New York City – destroyed.

David Sanchez, a 48-year-old, had just returned home to Cebreros after evacuating on the weekend to find that his small olive and pistachio grove had been consumed.

“Now it’s time to clean up and plant again, and that’s it... And the fire has flared up again down there,” he said, surrounded by choking air that stung the eyes and throat.

About 150,000ha of land has burned in Spain and 115,000ha in France since the start of 2026.

Climate change

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has called the fires “the most painful expression of a climate emergency”.

Spain’s weather agency AEMET announced a new heatwave starting on July 29 until the end of the week, with temperatures forecast to hit 42 deg C in the north-east and 39 deg C in the centre.

“The wildfire danger level will continue to increase, reaching extreme levels and making firefighting efforts more difficult due to high temperatures, locally gusty southerly winds and widespread low humidity,” AEMET said in a statement.

MeteoFrance also forecasts more hot weather of up to 40 deg C with dry wind from July 28. AFP