On Sunday, July 26, 2026, firefighters in southwest France are still trying tirelessly to contain the flames.Image: keystone
Huge forest fires continue to burn in southwestern Europe on Sunday. The regions around Madrid and Bordeaux are particularly affected. The latest developments.
July 26, 2026, 11:46 amJuly 26, 2026, 12:06 p.m
France
The fires in southwest France have triggered one of the largest evacuations in the country’s history. In the Gironde department, according to the French Le Monde More than 220,000 people have been evacuated since Wednesday.
18 communities have already been completely evacuated, four of which are in the catchment area of the large city of Bordeaux. Five other communities have only been partially evacuated so far. In total, over 42,000 hectares of forest and bushland have already been burned by the fire, which is blazing between Bordeaux and the Atlantic coast.
A long-distance desolate route between Le Porge and Lacanau-Ville is linked to the incense that ravages the Gironde pic.twitter.com/0hj02phJmp
— ICI Gironde (@ici_gironde) July 26, 2026
According to the fire department, the fire at times developed a so-called pyrocumulonimbus – a huge cloud of smoke that can generate its own winds and make fires particularly unpredictable. Around 140 residential buildings have already been destroyed.
According to the city administration, an evacuation of the metropolis of Bordeaux is currently not imminent. According to the regional newspaper L’Indépendant, Mayor Thomas Cazenave said that the residents of Bordeaux were not preparing for an evacuation. At the same time, he emphasized that the city is prepared to respond to any possible development.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez spoke on Sunday of a “very unfavorable situation” after a difficult night. The fire became “extremely violent and unpredictable” again during the night and continued to move towards Bordeaux.
According to the Interior Minister, over 31,000 people in the neighboring Landes department also had to leave their homes because of the fires. Among the evacuees are many holidaymakers from the coastal region around the Bassin d’Arcachon, which is popular with tourists. Ships were used to bring people to safety from, among other places, the Cap Ferret peninsula.
Around 2,500 firefighters are currently deployed in southwest France to contain the flames. There are also other auxiliary personnel, such as the national gendarmerie, which, according to its own information, has over 1,300 men on duty in the Gironde and Landes departments.
France has already mobilized 1,500 soldiers to support the fire brigades. In addition, an Airbus A400M military transport aircraft was used for firefighting for the first time, although the aircraft is not yet certified for this purpose in Europe. According to the Interior Minister, a total of 18 aircraft are in use.
Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron thanked various countries, including Switzerland, for their support in fighting the fires. Switzerland sent a voluntary contingent of firefighters to Bordeaux on Saturday. Four Swiss helicopters are also in use, and the DDPS is currently examining the availability of air resources to support forest firefighting, as a spokesman said in response to a request from the Keystone-SDA news agency. This also takes into account the general dryness and risk of forest fires in Switzerland.
Swiss already in use
The 34 firefighters who set off from Geneva towards Bordeaux on Saturday have arrived. They were deployed directly in the municipality of Cestas, as the fire and rescue service of the city of Geneva announced.
The first vehicles arrived in a suburb of Bordeaux around 8:30 p.m. on Saturday evening and the rest of the convoy shortly before midnight, Nicolas Millot, spokesman for the Fire and Rescue Service of the City of Geneva (GSIS), told Keystone-SDA on Sunday. They were immediately divided into two groups.
At 1 a.m., all departments in the municipality of Cestas were fully deployed to protect a field with photovoltaic systems. A large part of the facilities was spared and the operation ended around 6 a.m., he added.
The contingent from western Switzerland includes 23 firefighters from GSIS, eight from Vaud, two from Neuchâtel and one firefighter from the French department of Haute-Savoie. The convoy set off with a total of eleven vehicles.
Spain
In Spain, the forest fires are largely under control. 100,000 people have already been evacuated from Madrid and the province of Avila, writes “El Pais”. It is said that around 45,000 hectares of land fell victim to the flames.
Firefighters are also on duty non-stop on Sunday.Image: keystone
The commander of the fire brigade operations battalion stated on Sunday that after progress had been made during the night, many sources of fire had been contained and the situation was under control. Nevertheless, there are still many embers that could flare up again at any time. Strong gusts of wind have been hampering fire-fighting efforts for four days.
Meanwhile, the president of the regional government of Castile and Leon said on Sunday that the fire was started by negligence. However, he did not provide any evidence for this.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced Sunday that the government plans to declare the fire-affected regions disaster areas. He also warned the population that there would still be “difficult hours” ahead.
(cpf, with material from sda/dpa)