A wave of devastating wildfires fanned by extreme heat and strong winds has swept across southern Europe, forcing more than 20,000 people to evacuate in south-western France and thousands more in Spain, as governments scramble for reinforcements and the death toll among firefighters rises. France has invoked the European Union's civil protection mechanism to request emergency assistance, with President Emmanuel Macron warning that the crisis remains "very intense." The EU responded by deploying three water-bombing aircraft, including Croatian Canadairs, Portuguese Air Tractors, and heavy Black Hawk helicopters from the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The worst-affected area in France is the Gironde department — the Atlantic coastal region around Bordeaux and the Bay of Arcachon — where a fire of probable accidental origin has burned more than 4,800 hectares of the Landes de Gascogne pine forest. Many of those evacuated overnight were tourists staying at campsites on the Lège-Cap-Ferret peninsula, a popular seaside destination. Around 800 firefighters, supported by dozens of soldiers and gendarmes, are battling to prevent the blaze from reaching the heavily visited Cap-Ferret area. Gironde fire chief Marc Vermeulen warned that rising temperatures and shifting winds made the fire "difficult to predict." A separate blaze broke out in Biscarrosse, in the neighbouring Landes department, rapidly burning 1,200 hectares and forcing another 5,000 people to evacuate. Meanwhile, in the Var region of south-eastern France, the mistral wind — a powerful, dry wind that regularly accelerates fires in the region — drove flames through roughly 2,700 hectares near the historic village of Cotignac, destroying around 25 houses. Two firefighters died earlier in the week tackling a separate blaze near Bordeaux airport, and France's interior minister expressed "infinite gratitude" to their families.

In Spain, the Madrid regional government declared a state of emergency as wildfires burned west and south of the capital. More than 10,000 people have been evacuated in recent days, including residents of Aldea del Fresno and the village of Almorox. Firefighters and military units struggled overnight to contain the blazes, and most residents were eventually allowed to return, though authorities cautioned that fires were not yet fully under control. A larger wildfire in Guadalajara province, north of Madrid, burned more than 35,000 hectares — the country's biggest this year — leaving vast stretches of scorched landscape. Spain has already recorded more wildfires in 2026 than in the whole of 2025, according to the European Forest Fire Information System. In Italy, more than 350 fires broke out across Sicily and Calabria, and one firefighter died battling a blaze in Sicily. Officials there noted that fires had human causes and that firefighting had become "a social and public order problem."

The scale of this summer's crisis reflects a broader and deepening pattern. A report by the Copernicus Climate Change Service found that at least 95% of Europe experienced above-average temperatures in 2025, identifying the continent as the fastest-warming in the world. A study published this week by climate scientists at the World Weather Attribution group concluded that European droughts are now more severe as a result of climate change driven by the burning of fossil fuels. Spain's civil protection chief Virginia Barcones was blunt in her assessment: "Climate change is what kills, what destroys our villages and our natural and cultural heritage," she told Spanish radio, adding that some fires become so intense that firefighters stand "no chance" despite deploying aircraft and ground crews. The total area burned so far this year across EU countries is the second largest on record.