Macron defends fire response as Gironde megafire burns over 42,000 hectares

Macron visits Gironde command centre

Emmanuel Macron travelled to the CODIS emergency operations centre in Bordeaux on Monday as the Gironde megafire continued to burn. The fire is stabilised but still active, having consumed 42,000 hectares and forced the evacuation of about 220,000 people since Friday evening. With more than 116,000 hectares burned across France this season, the country is experiencing its worst fire year on record. Macron urged the nation to “remain united” and declared that the fire was now “fixed in the Landes,” the neighbouring department.

The weeks to come will be tough and we must hold. We remain united and fight to win the battle everywhere.

A doubled budget and the Canadair dispute

Defending his administration’s record, the president said civil-security spending had almost doubled during his time in office, rising from 450 million to 800 million euros. He pointed to 67 aircraft currently deployed nationwide, including the first operational use of the Airbus A400M to drop retardant, and noted the activation of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, which brought assistance from several member states. However, the government has been under heavy fire over the state of the Canadair fleet. France owns 12 water-bombers, but only 7 were operational on Sunday because of maintenance stops. The average aircraft is more than 30 years old, and a 2024 order for two additional planes was cancelled. Government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon acknowledged the cancellation but blamed factory bottlenecks, saying “it takes three, four, five years to build one.” Macron had promised in October 2022 to replace the twelve Canadair and expand the fleet to sixteen by the end of his second term, but so far only four have been ordered: the first two, funded by the EU, are due in 2028, the others not until 2032 or 2033.

Opposition demands more investment

Marine Tondelier, leader of the green party Les Écologistes, charged the state with a “heavy responsibility in the unpreparedness and in what is happening today,” and called for an urgent political meeting and legislation to support firefighters. The far-left La France Insoumise pledged, if it won power in 2027, to raise the civil-security budget to one billion euros and recruit 50,000 volunteer firefighters by 2030. Both LFI and the far-right National Rally recalled that the civil-security budget was cut by 53 million euros in 2024 and accused the executive of failing to keep its 2022 promises. An editorial in Sud Ouest called the public debate a “smoke screen” of unkept pledges and demagogy, arguing that firefighters and forests deserved better.

There is a heavy responsibility of the state in the unpreparedness and in what is happening today.

The next heat wave looms

Firefighters reported 500 hectares of new ground burned in 24 hours and said most flare-ups were “contained.” A force of 2,750 firemen, 18 air assets, 1,500 soldiers, and 1,440 internal-security personnel remained on the lines. Météo-France warned that a new heat wave would begin on Tuesday, pushing highs to 40°C with drier winds. Captain Wilfried Schneider told AFP that the night’s higher humidity could offer an opening for decisive attacks.

Rebuilding for a warmer climate

Macron also called for replanting the devastated forest with a different mix of species adapted to “structural conditions of climate change.” The president’s entourage insisted he had been “mobilised from day one,” but the political firefight over firefighting resources showed no sign of cooling.