LEGE-CAP FERRET, France – French authorities ordered another 4,000 people to evacuate tourist destinations along the Atlantic coast on Tuesday as renewed wildfire activity threatened containment efforts near Bordeaux, adding to a wildfire emergency that has displaced more than 330,000 people across France and Spain.
The latest evacuation order followed new fire outbreaks near Grand Crohot, a popular beach on the Lège-Cap-Ferret peninsula. Authorities increased the aerial firefighting response from 18 to 23 aircraft and helicopters as crews worked to contain the advancing flames.
“The situation remains complicated. That’s clear. We’re not out of the woods,” Gironde prefect Sophie Brocas said.
The additional evacuations expanded what French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez has described as “very likely” the country’s largest civilian evacuation operation outside wartime.
Fire Conditions Remain Highly Volatile
Authorities said approximately 60,000 residents evacuated as a precaution from Le Haillan and parts of Mérignac and Eysines near Bordeaux were allowed to return home Tuesday after no fires developed in those areas.
Even so, officials instructed returning residents to keep their mobile phones on and emergency bags prepared in case conditions changed.
The contrasting decisions—allowing tens of thousands to return while ordering thousands more to evacuate coastal communities—highlighted the unpredictable nature of the wildfire crisis.
Across France and Spain, an estimated 330,000 people have been displaced from homes and vacation destinations by major wildfires. Spain is also preparing for its fourth heat wave of the summer while several large fires remain active, including what authorities say is the largest wildfire in the country’s recorded history.
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Gironde Fire Remains France’s Largest Emergency
The Gironde wildfire has burned an area roughly four times the size of Paris and prompted the evacuation of approximately 220,000 people.
The latest precautionary evacuation order covers campsites, holiday villages, tourist residences and leisure parks around the resort town of Lacanau, regional authorities said.
“We are at a point of fragility,” Eric Brocardi, spokesperson for France’s National Federation of Firefighters, told BFMTV, adding that crews would continue attacking the blaze despite forecasts of rising temperatures.
Some vacationers chose to remain despite official warnings. According to Le Parisien, one family decided to continue a vacation rather than forfeit a €4,000 holiday, while another group debated leaving a trip that had cost each traveler €650.
Extreme Fire Behavior Challenges Firefighters
At its peak, the Gironde wildfire generated a pyrocumulonimbus cloud—a fire-driven thunderstorm capable of producing lightning, powerful winds and new fires beyond the main blaze. Authorities said it was the first recorded occurrence of the phenomenon in France.
France’s national weather service placed Gironde under a yellow heat alert beginning Tuesday afternoon, forecasting inland temperatures between 33 and 35 degrees Celsius (91 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit).
The Interior Ministry said more than 1,160 square kilometers (448 square miles) have burned across France this year.
The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service reported that Europe is warming more than twice as fast as the global average and that Western Europe experienced its hottest June on record, with prolonged heat and drought contributing to increasingly severe wildfire conditions.
Firefighters Continue Protecting Communities
In Le Porge, west of Bordeaux, local authorities said approximately 150 homes had been destroyed.
Officials warned that smoldering vegetation, rising temperatures and falling humidity could trigger new flare-ups along the fire’s extensive perimeter.
Military engineers and specialized wildfire prevention teams resumed cutting firebreaks early Tuesday, bringing the total completed to 103 kilometers (64 miles). The prefecture said at least 110 firefighters have been injured during operations.
Thousands Return Home as Separate Fire Stabilizes
In neighboring Landes department, about 15,000 evacuees—roughly half of those displaced there—were allowed to return after a separate wildfire stopped advancing.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday evening that the Landes fire had been “fixed,” meaning its forward spread had been halted without new outbreaks.
Residents returning included those from Sanguinet, Parentis-en-Born, Biscarrosse’s aviation village and a large campground, although several nearby neighborhoods remained closed.
Authorities stressed that the fire has not been extinguished and warned that lingering hot spots, drought and shifting winds could reignite the blaze.
Spain Allows Some Residents to Return as Heat Threat Builds
Spanish authorities also began easing evacuation orders after firefighters made overnight progress against several major wildfires.
Francisco Martín, the Spanish government’s representative in the Madrid region, said evacuation orders would be lifted in 10 municipalities, allowing about 20,000 residents to return home while ending stay-at-home orders affecting another 14,000 people.
Authorities also permitted residents to return to some villages in Ávila, while another 6,000 people returned after a wildfire near Toledo came under control. Several thousand more residents also returned in Castellón.
Hundreds of firefighters, military emergency units and water-dropping aircraft remain deployed against multiple large fires.
Smoke from the wildfires drifted into Madrid in recent days, with emergency services reporting noticeable smoke and ash across parts of the capital.
Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said overnight firefighting efforts left him “reasonably positive,” while cautioning that another period of extreme heat could quickly reverse recent progress.
Spain’s national weather service forecasts temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in some areas during what is expected to become the country’s fourth heat wave of the summer. The government has declared a national emergency over the fires.
Spain Faces One of Its Deadliest Fire Seasons
At least 13 people have died in Spanish wildfires this year, making 2026 one of the country’s deadliest wildfire seasons in decades.
The greatest concern remains two major fires west of Madrid that at times have threatened to merge into a single blaze.
Authorities said a wildfire burning in the mountains of Ávila has become the largest on record in Spain, scorching more than 500 square kilometers (193 square miles).
Weather officials in Ávila also reported the formation of a pyrocumulonimbus cloud above the fire, a phenomenon previously observed during major Spanish wildfire seasons.
“Look at how the valley is burned. Look at the houses, the people,” said David Gonzalez, a gardener delivering supplies to firefighters in Ávila.
“We are feeling a lot of anger and helplessness. It’s something inhuman,” he said.
Spanish Ecology Minister Sara Aagesen said wildfires have burned approximately 1,530 square kilometers (590 square miles) across the country this year.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has called for a national agreement to strengthen wildfire prevention and emergency response, saying climate change is making such disasters increasingly severe.
This report is based on reporting by The Associated Press.
