Hollywood actor George Clooney, his wife Amal — a prominent international human rights lawyer — and their nine-year-old twins have evacuated their home near Brignoles, a town in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southern France, as fast-moving wildfires forced hundreds of residents to flee. Clooney's publicist confirmed the evacuation on Thursday, July 30, sharing a letter the actor had written to Brignoles Mayor Didier Bremond.
In the letter, Clooney expressed uncertainty about the fate of the property while making a public commitment to the community. "At this point we have no idea whether our beautiful home makes it through this terrible moment," he wrote. "Amal and I are committed to making sure that whatever happens to our village, we are part of this community and we'll be part of making it whole. We love Brignoles and our friends who live there." The couple purchased the Brignoles vineyard estate in 2021 for an estimated €9 million, and they and their children obtained French citizenship in 2025.
The blaze near Brignoles has scorched around 130 hectares, forced more than 600 people to evacuate their homes, and left four firefighters injured. Hundreds of emergency personnel, supported by water-bombing helicopters, continued battling the flames. The fire is one of several burning simultaneously across France, which is experiencing one of its most severe wildfire seasons in decades. The country's largest current fire, located in the southwest, has already destroyed more than 42,000 hectares.
The Clooney evacuation has drawn international attention to what is a far broader crisis. Southern France, like much of the Mediterranean basin, has become increasingly vulnerable to destructive wildfires driven by prolonged drought, high temperatures, and strong winds — conditions that scientists link to climate change. The scale of this season's fires underscores a growing challenge for emergency services and local communities alike, many of whom will depend on long-term rebuilding efforts long after the immediate threat has passed.