Overview
- France authorised returns on Thursday for about 84,000 people displaced by the giant Gironde fire, but officials say large burned areas, smouldering hotspots and tens of thousands of displaced residents remain.
- Greek authorities reported that three firefighters died this week while battling fast‑moving blazes on Crete and in the Peloponnese, and thousands of residents and tourists were evacuated from threatened towns.
- Spain lifted a state of emergency for the fire threatening the Madrid area after local officials said active fronts were controlled, even as a separate central‑Spain blaze near Ávila remains one of the largest on record.
- Fire services have mobilised thousands of ground crews, more than 20 aircraft, military assets and aggressive tactics such as controlled burns, broad firebreaks and police water cannons to extinguish embers and stop flare‑ups.
- Researchers say a pattern of wet winters followed by extreme summer heat has left abundant dry fuel and helped double or triple the number of 'fire‑weather' days since 1981, increasing the chance of future large, fast fires and complicating recovery for communities, farms and tourism.