Overview
- The Gironde blaze near Bordeaux grew into a 'mega‑fire' that produced France’s first recorded pyrocumulonimbus and forced about 220,000 people to evacuate, with some local returns reported after calmer nights and light rain.
- Investigators now say contractors using a brush‑cutting machine near an Enedis high‑voltage line are the probable source of the Gironde ignition, a finding that shifts attention to human prevention and contractor practices.
- Spain’s large central fires have eased around Madrid with officials reporting 'almost no flames' in some zones and tens of thousands of people allowed to return home, even as new smaller blazes appeared near the Portuguese border.
- The human toll includes at least three firefighters killed in Greece while fighting wildfires, and authorities across the region have mobilised thousands of crews, more than 20 aircraft, and EU civil‑protection assistance to fight the blazes.
- Forecasters warn another heatwave will bring temperatures near 40–44°C; experts say record heat and prolonged drought have primed landscapes for extreme fire behaviour, raising the risk that recent gains could quickly reverse.