By Michael Francis Gore and Stephane Mahe
NAVALUENGA, Spain/LEGE-CAP-FERRET, France, July 24 (Reuters) – Spain declared a national emergency over wildfires for the first time on Friday and France asked for help from the European Union to tackle a blaze on the Atlantic coast as searing heat fuelled fires across Europe and forced tens of thousands of evacuations.
French authorities ordered the total evacuation of the Cap Ferret peninsula, a tourism hotspot busy for the summer season, as smoke and flames drew closer to homes. About 63,000 people were evacuated from the area, many brought to safety by boat, officials said.
Close by, in the town of Biscarrosse, another large fire also forced residents to leave their homes.
“From our home, we had a view of the fires … We could see the clouds becoming darker and darker,” said Yoan Urien, 26, who left late on Thursday after police told everyone in his neighbourhood to leave.
“I was able to find somewhere to take shelter with my pets, but … it’s quite a shock,” he told Reuters.
FLAMES CLOSE IN ON ACCESS ROAD
A fire that began in Saumos, north of Cap Ferret, is threatening to cut off the only road out of the peninsula and is the largest so far this season in France, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told local television.
It has torn through 10,000 hectares (24,700 acres) of land and burned 80 homes, completely destroying about 50 of them, he said.
In Spain, more than 10,000 people were evacuated from towns in the mountains west of the capital, Madrid, as firefighters sought to prevent three fires in the region and neighbouring Avila province from joining, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said.
The area, where many residents from the capital have second homes, is densely populated.
That played a role in the government decision to declare a national emergency, allowing it to better coordinate the response, Grande-Marlaska said, adding that the aggressive nature of the fires and hot, windy weather also prompted the move.
It was the first time such a measure has been taken due to a wildfire. The last time Spain declared the same level of emergency alert was during a massive nationwide power blackout last year.
Spain has also sought assistance from the EU, the Interior Ministry said.
‘NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT’
In Navaluenga in Avila province, local residents wearing masks because of the smoke stood watching firefighting helicopters scoop up water from the town’s river.
“I’ve lived here for 36 years and I’ve never seen anything like it. Nor did I expect it. I thought they were going to get it under control last night, but it was already late, and it was all out of control,” local resident Javier Martin told Reuters.
More than 270 emergency personnel and 40 ground units have been deployed in the affected areas, alongside several Military Emergency Unit (UME) contingents, Spanish officials said.
It is the second consecutive year that Spain has faced a particularly destructive fire season.
More than 29 major fires have broken out in Spain so far this year, damaging a surface area five times greater than at the same stage in 2025, when a record area was destroyed, Environment Minister Sara Aagesen said in a social media post.
HEAT HITS CROPS, NUCLEAR PLANT COOLING
French President Emmanuel Macron said he had asked for firefighting support from the EU to help tackle the Cap Ferret blaze, which has already devastated 8,700 hectares (21,500 acres).
Several specialist aircraft from other European countries should soon be on their way to help, Macron said on X.
After a short reprieve over the weekend, average temperatures in France are expected to rise sharply again next week, according to Global Forecast System data compiled by LSEG. The high temperatures are expected to warm French rivers that are used to cool nuclear reactors and could lead to further restrictions, as the reactors reduce output to comply with environmental protection measures. The Golfech 2 nuclear reactor in southern France has remained offline since July 7 due to heat-related restrictions, operator EDF’s data showed.
Weeks of hot weather are also taking a toll on the condition of the maize crop in France, the EU’s largest grain producer, farm office FranceAgriMer said on Friday.
(Additional reporting by Manuel Ausloos, Coralie Lamarque, Liu Zhifan, Forrest Crellin, Inti Landauro, Ingrid Melander, Camille Raynaud, Guillermo Martinez, Violeta Santos Moura and Emma Pinedo;Writing by Charlie Devereux;Editing by Helen Popper)
Comments