A wildfire that broke out on Thursday 13 August in the Landes region of southwestern France has now scorched 1,580 hectares, with around 550 firefighters working to contain its spread. The fire, which started near Luglon — a village of roughly 350 inhabitants — reignited early on Saturday morning around 4:30 a.m., spreading southward toward Garein, a nearby village of about 400 people. Approximately 100 additional residents were evacuated overnight, bringing the total to 650, though authorities confirmed that no homes have been damaged.

The rate of spread slowed significantly compared to the previous night. Between Thursday evening and Friday morning, the burned area had nearly tripled from 400 to 1,100 hectares; overnight into Saturday it grew more modestly, from 1,300 to 1,580 hectares. Firefighters have concentrated their efforts around Garein, while the situation near Luglon, though still active, is described as more controlled. Among the tactics deployed was a deliberate "tactical burn" — a controlled fire set just after midnight on unburned land to deprive the main blaze of fuel and draw it away from populated areas. Specialist "burners," wearing yellow thermal protection suits, applied a mixture of hydrocarbons to dry vegetation, carefully managing wind direction and terrain to ensure the controlled fire merged with the main blaze rather than spreading independently.

Aerial reinforcements are also on standby, including a giant Chinook water-bombing helicopter on loan from Australia, alongside Canadair aircraft. Weather conditions are expected to improve through Saturday, with temperatures falling to around 32°C compared to 36°C the previous day, and possible rainfall forecast for the early evening — both factors that could significantly assist containment efforts.

This is the third major fire of the summer in the vast Landes de Gascogne forest, a landscape dominated by maritime pines that have been severely dried out by successive heatwaves. Two earlier fires, at Biscarrosse in the Landes department and Saumos in the neighbouring Gironde department, burned 3,700 and 42,000 hectares respectively. The scale of this summer's destruction is alarming: France has already broken a 20-year record for total surface area burned, with close to 100,000 hectares lost according to the European fire monitoring system EFFIS. Scientists and officials have linked the increasing frequency and intensity of these fires to climate change, which is driving longer and more severe heat events across the region.