Hundreds of thousands evacuate as France’s worst fire since World War II threatens Bordeaux city

Monday, 27 July 2026

Devastating wildfires in France's Gironde region have burned 42,000 hectares, forcing 55,000 residents to evacuate as the erratic blaze approaches 15 kilometres from Bordeaux.

Across southwest France, total evacuations have climbed past 220,000 people due to unpredictable winds, dry scrubland, and self-feeding firestorms.

Emergency operations in France involve 2500 firefighters, 18 aircraft, and military support, with 75 fire personnel treated for injuries and hundreds of homes destroyed.

Wildfires across southern Europe have caused further disruption and casualties, leaving one dead and forcing 76,000 evacuations in Spain, while rescuing 400 tourists by sea in Italy.

A raging wildfire in southwest France has forced the evacuation of 55,000 people, bringing the total forced out of their homes to a staggering 220,000 in one region alone, as flames creep ever closer to the wine region city of Bordeaux.

Bystanders watch the smoke and flames from a wildfire on July 21, 2026 in Cotignac, France, July 21. Wildfires have been raging in France for more than a week.

Shifting and gusting winds, as well as arid conditions, complicated massive efforts to limit the spread of the monster blaze burning out of control since midweek in France's Gironde region, where Bordeaux is located.

Authorities issued overnight evacuation orders for five more localities southwest of the historic city.

More than 330,000 people have been evacuated due to Europe’s wildfires in the past week, in France and Spain, BBC reports.

An area of 42,000 hectares has burnt in the south-west of France, making it one of the largest forest fires since World War Two, BBC reported. According to BBC, about 98,000 hectares have burnt across the country since the start of the year.

“The situation remains very unfavourable,' French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said after what he described as “another difficult night” for fire crews battling round-the-clock against the blaze that has burned an area four times the size of Paris.

“The fire became extremely virulent again and unpredictable, generating its own winds and advancing erratically toward the Bordeaux metropolitan area,' Nunez posted on X.

“It became calmer by the end of the night,' the minister added.

An estimated 42,000 hectares had burned in Gironde, the region's prefecture said, much of it forests and scrubland made tinder-dry by successive heat waves. That is seven times the area of Manhattan island and four times the size of Paris.

Firefighters raced in trucks to fight flare-ups and planes dropping water and retardants rotated in the smoke-filled air. Farmers delivered water in tanks to fire crews so they could fight the flames without interruption.

The number of firefighters mobilised grew to 2500, backed by 18 planes and helicopters, including from other European nations. Soldiers have also been called in. A giant A400M military cargo aircraft dropped plumes of ochre-coloured retardant.

The Gironde prefecture said 75 firefighters were treated for injuries. Hundreds of homes have been destroyed.

Blaze has created virulent firestorms

Firefighters near Marcheprime, outside, Bordeaux.

In a first for France, the blaze alarmingly developed into a self-feeding firestorm on several occasions, most recently on Saturday night (local time), generating lightning bolts that can start new flare-ups, authorities said.

“It's like being confronted by a hurricane,” said Gironde fire chief Marc Vermeulen.

Forecast high temperatures starting Tuesday could complicate the firefighting, Gironde prefect Sophie Brocas said.

Evacuees won’t be allowed back to their towns and villages until the blaze is brought under control, she warned. She urged holiday makers not to come to the region that has popular Atlantic beaches and some of France’s largest woodlands.

Fire creeps toward Bordeaux but the city isn't evacuating

People evacuated to an emergency shelter set up in the Bordeaux Exhibition Centre due to the raging wildfires.

Bordeaux Mayor Thomas Cazenave described the blaze as being 'at the gates of the metropolitan area,” about 15 kilometres away at its closest point.

But Cazenave said an evacuation of Bordeaux is not on the cards for now. The city is home to 268,000 people.

Bordeaux turned an exhibition centre into an emergency shelter, providing cots and food for thousands of evacuees, including hundreds of older people evacuated from care homes.

A second fire burning farther south in the Landes region has also forced the evacuation of 36,000 people, driving the total number of displaced people in southwest France to more than 250,000.

Fire crews have also been battling a blaze in the Var region of southern France on the Mediterranean. Nearly 3000 people have been evacuated there.

‘It was madness’: Tens of thousands forced from homes in Spain

In Spain, wildfires burned out of control around Madrid. Evacuations were also carried out Sunday in the Valencia region.

Firefighters battle a wildfire near Le Temple, outside, Bordeaux.

A man was killed Saturday in a wildfire in Manises, a Valencia suburb, marking Spain’s first recorded death in the latest fires.

“We still have some difficult hours ahead,” Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Sunday, but the night was “very positive in terms of bringing the flames under control.”

A total of 76,000 people have been evacuated in Spain while 30,000 others have been confined to their homes, the government said.

Evacuees fretted about what they’ll find when they’re allowed to return.

“It looked like the apocalypse. You couldn’t see anything. Everything was covered in ash,” said Rocío Domínguez, who evacuated with her dog, Simba, from Chapinería, west of Madrid.

“We don’t know when we get to the town, if we’ll have half the house burned down or we’ll have it intact or we won’t have a house,” she said. “All the clothes, all the memories, everything.”

Elvira Menéndez knew how lucky she was that her house was not a charred ruin like so many others in Spain and France devastated by deadly wildfires.

Hundreds of tourists and swimmers have been rescued from a fire in Cala Manacore, a seaside location in Apulia, Italy.

But the 79-year-old retiree can’t help but worry for another family that, like her, fled the raging inferno.

“They have been left with nothing,” said about a young family that lives down her son’s street. “The house has completely burned down, and they have three children.”

Rocío Domínguez fled her house with only the clothes on her back. “All the clothes, all the memories, everything, everything, everything,” were left behind, she said.

“The only thing I had time to grab was a kit I have for the dogs,” Domínguez added, surrounded by her two beloved pets. Everything else she has with her now — from the clothes she wears to her food and toiletries — she received at the shelter.

Domínguez still has the terrifying memory of their escape fresh in her mind.

“It was madness with cars going up and down, traffic jams in the village streets as people tried to get out. It looked like the apocalypse,” told Domínguez, 35 years old and unemployed, who is with her parents and siblings. “You couldn’t see anything.”

“Everything was covered in ash,” she added. “You could see all the burned animals.”

Blaze strikes Italy

In Italy, 400 tourists and swimmers have been rescued from a fire in Cala Manacore, a seaside location in Apulia, after a wildfire there blocked off all escape routes but the sea, CNN reported.