Wildfires raging across Spain and France have forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes, with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez saying on Saturday that saving lives is his government's priority, and French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu warning of "difficult hours" ahead in the Gironde region.
In France, an estimated 200,000 people have been evacuated because of the fires, in what Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez described as probably the largest evacuation operation ever organised in the country. Since the start of the year, fires across France have burned a total of 98,000 hectares, which Nuñez called a "historic record." Officials said several fires, including those in Gironde, Landes and Var in the country's southwest and southeast, remained uncontained.
An A400M military transport aircraft, mobilised by the French government to help fight the fires around Bordeaux, carried out its first drop of fire retardant on Saturday afternoon over Lacanau, in Gironde. It was the first time the Airbus-built aircraft, which can carry 20,000 litres of water or retardant, has been used in real conditions. According to the French armed forces' general staff, preparations were completed to test the aircraft's tank and ensure it was ready for use as quickly as possible. The prototype, first tested by the manufacturer in April 2025, consists of a large, semi-cylindrical tank fitted beneath the aircraft without structural modification, and its purpose-built system allows the A400M to release the equivalent of three Canadair water-bomber drops in a single pass. Civil protection authorities said Saturday's drop was intended to create retardant barriers outside the mountainous areas and on the outskirts of Bordeaux.
"Not on the agenda"
From Saturday evening, 1,500 soldiers were being deployed to help fight the fires, with their main task to assist with evacuations in threatened areas and to protect homes left unattended. Bordeaux mayor Thomas Cazenave said evacuating the city itself was "not on the agenda," despite fires burning several dozen kilometres away, adding that between 5,000 and 6,000 people from evacuated neighbouring communities had taken shelter there.
In Spain, Sánchez said his government's priority was to save lives and described the situation as complex after visiting an emergency response centre in one of the affected areas near Madrid on Saturday morning. According to Spain's interior ministry, fires west of the capital and in Ávila province have burned a combined 25,000 hectares, an area more than twice the size of Paris. No fatalities had been reported in either the French or Spanish fires at the time of writing.
Madrid regional president Francisco Martín Aguirre warned that the day ahead would be difficult because of erratic wind gusts, though he struck a note of optimism, saying rising humidity and falling temperatures gave firefighters "a real chance" to bring the blaze under control.
Black ash covered rooftops
In Madrid's northern suburbs, a layer of black ash covered rooftops and terraces, while smoke and the strong smell of burning irritated residents' eyes and throats, forcing many to keep their windows shut. In El Escorial, the town's historic monastery was shrouded in smoke, according to AFP journalists on the scene.
Lecornu warned on Saturday evening that "the next few hours could be difficult" in Gironde, noting that weather forecasts were turning unfavourable again. He said Friday's abrupt shift in weather had fundamentally altered the fire's dynamics, and that after a slight improvement overnight and Saturday morning, conditions were once more deteriorating. He made the comments on X following a meeting of the interministerial crisis unit.
Source: AMNA
