Overview
- On Saturday, July 25, more than 200,000 people were ordered to evacuate or shelter in place across southwestern France and central Spain as flames moved toward Bordeaux and west of Madrid.
- France has mobilized thousands of troops to support evacuations and firefighting around Gironde and Landes while authorities prepare for possible further evacuations of Bordeaux suburbs and tourist peninsulas.
- Spain declared a national emergency after multiple fires, including merged blazes west of Madrid, reached points that regional officials said were beyond direct containment and required defensive tactics.
- EU and bilateral assistance has sent water‑dumping aircraft, helicopters and crews to both countries to reinforce exhausted local fire brigades and to protect populated and tourist areas.
- Officials linked the scale and speed of the blazes to successive heatwaves and prolonged drought, warning of public‑health impacts from smoke, long displacement for residents and a higher risk of renewed outbreaks as winds shift.