Firefighters in France and Spain battled major wildfires on July 27 as forecasts of another heatwave in southwestern France threatened to hamper efforts to contain the blazes.
More than 325,000 people have been evacuated across the two countries, where fires have swept through southwestern France and areas of central and eastern Spain.
The Gironde blaze, one of France’s largest since World War II, generated a pyrocumulonimbus cloud capable of creating its own winds and lightning, the National Firefighters Federation of France said.
“It’s a David-versus-Goliath scenario. At some point, we’ll find a weak spot and strike there,” federation spokesman Eric Brocardi said.
President Emmanuel Macron was due to hold a crisis cabinet meeting on Monday.
More than 250,000 people have been evacuated across France, including around 220,000 in Gironde, where 45 campsites have been closed. The fire has burned 42,000 hectares and destroyed at least 240 homes since Wednesday.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the situation remained “very unfavorable,” describing the main fire as “extremely intense and unpredictable” as it advanced toward the Bordeaux metropolitan area.
Authorities said there were no plans to evacuate Bordeaux, home to around 850,000 people. However, temperatures could reach 40 degrees Celsius in parts of France from Tuesday.
Eighty-four firefighters have been injured in Gironde. Two others were killed in a separate fire near Bordeaux on July 21.
In Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was due to visit Valencia, where a new blaze forced around 15,000 people to leave their homes. During a visit to Ávila province on Sunday, he warned that “difficult hours lie ahead.”
Spanish civil protection chief Virginia Barcones described the Ávila fire as a “monster,” saying its perimeter stretched for 280 kilometers and enclosed 77,000 hectares.
Around 75,000 residents have been evacuated from the Madrid region, Ávila, Toledo and Castellón. One person was killed in a separate fire near Valencia on Saturday.
The fires have been fuelled by successive heatwaves and a lack of rain since May.
Italy was also battling wildfires, with more than 400 tourists and beachgoers evacuated by sea near Peschici in the southern Puglia region. A further 300 people were expected to be taken to safety.
Pope Leo XIV expressed solidarity on Sunday with those affected by the fires and called for prayers for residents and emergency workers.
