France activates first-ever Orsec 'extreme heat' plan as third heatwave pushes temperatures toward 40°C

Heatwave intensifies across France

France is enduring its third heatwave in less than two months, with temperatures forecast to reach 40 °C in western regions. Météo-France placed nine departments in the west under red alert on Friday 10 July, including Ille-et-Vilaine, Loire-Atlantique, and Vendée. Another 72 departments were under orange alert. Overnight on 8–9 July, the town of Vivès in the Pyrénées-Orientales recorded a minimum temperature of 30.6 °C, the highest ever registered in mainland France.

On Saturday 11 July, the red alert will expand to 24 departments in the north-western quarter, from Morbihan to the Paris region, with 56 others on orange. According to an AFP calculation based on Insee data, 22.2 million inhabitants will be covered by the red alert, three times more than on Friday. Around 54 million people in total remain under orange or red vigilance. Météo-France warned that the heat will intensify over the weekend, with hot nights across most of the country and violent storms possible in the west.

A first: the Orsec 'extreme heat' plan

The government announced on Friday the activation of a plan Orsec chaleurs extrêmes, described by spokesperson Maud Bregeon as a measure that did not exist before. The plan is not triggered at a fixed temperature threshold but follows a global assessment including the duration and intensity of the heatwave.

The aim of this Orsec extreme heat plan, which did not exist in the past, is to take into account the feedback from recent waves.

It enables prefects to coordinate state services, local authorities, emergency responders, and health and social actors. A preliminary version was presented during an inter-ministerial crisis meeting in Marseille on 2 July 2026.

Cooling centres and vulnerable person registries

Under the plan, each department must open dedicated protection and cooling centres for vulnerable people, including the elderly and the homeless. The centres are to be equipped with beds, first-aid kits, separate sanitary facilities, and reinforced human supervision, with systematic health checks on arrival.

Such centres had already been opened, or at least made available during the day, notably in town halls, so that people could come and cool off. Here we are going two, or even three, steps further, first targeting the most vulnerable people, with better cross-referencing of files.

Prefects must rely on precise, up-to-date registers of fragile populations, built in collaboration with municipalities, communal social action centres (CCAS), social services, and the family allowance fund (CAF).

Fire risk and climate backdrop

The combined heat and drought are creating an exceptional forest fire danger across the whole country. More than 25,000 hectares have burned since the start of the year, nearly double the area recorded at the same date last year, according to civil security estimates. The plan Orsec forêt had previously been activated during the massive 2022 fires in Gironde, which burned over 30,000 hectares in Landiras and La Teste-de-Buch.

The 40°C mark can be reached.

The repeated heatwaves are an unequivocal marker of climate change, driven mainly by the burning of coal, oil, and gas, climate scientists have shown. The Haut Conseil pour le climat warned on Thursday that France's policies on decarbonisation and adaptation remain insufficient.

Government response and hospital readiness

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu chaired an inter-ministerial crisis meeting on Friday morning. Bregeon stated that 6,000 of the 30,000 air-conditioning units promised for hospitals have already been installed, with the rest to be deployed progressively. Only Corsica, the Côte d'Azur, the far north, and a few mountain departments are expected to escape the extreme temperatures. The heatwave is forecast to last until at least the middle of next week.