Spain and France race to contain historic wildfires as fresh heatwave threatens to push temperatures past 40°C

The scale of destruction

Spain is facing the largest wildfire in its recent history. In the province of Ávila alone, the blaze has scorched around 50,000 hectares, while the combined area burned across Ávila, Madrid and Toledo reached 77,000 hectares by Monday evening. Nationwide, 172,000 hectares have burned so far this year, six times the area consumed in the same period of 2025. At least 13 people have died. Across the Pyrenees, a fire in France's Gironde region has destroyed about 42,000 hectares, described as one of the worst devastations of French territory since the Second World War. The fire near Bordeaux could take weeks or months to be fully extinguished, French authorities cautioned.

People forced to flee

More than 325,000 people have been displaced across the two countries. In Spain's central provinces, the latest official figures cited by El País show 91,149 people were evacuated or confined, with 31,865 forced from their homes in the Madrid region alone and another 20,262 ordered to stay indoors. In Navas del Rey, residents have still not been allowed to return. Anger is boiling over the perceived lack of help.

Look how the valley is burned. Look at the houses, the people. There is a lot of rage and impotence. It is inhuman, they abandoned us. Three days, three days on the mountain and nobody shows up. Three helicopters, three helicopters for the largest mountain in the region.

A race against the next heatwave

Firefighters on both sides of the border are in a desperate race to contain the flames before a new blast of hot, dry air arrives. Spain's meteorological agency AEMET has issued warnings of the country's fourth heatwave of the year, expected to grip the country from Wednesday 29 July until Sunday 2 August. Temperatures will climb above 40°C in several regions, with strong southerly winds that could produce locally powerful gusts and push the fire risk to “very high or extreme” across much of the country. France's Météo-France forecasts the heatwave to begin even sooner, on Tuesday 28 July, with south-western areas reaching 40°C and shifting winds complicating firefighting.

Political response and climate framing

Pedro Sánchez visited the command post of the La Vall d'Uixó fire in Castellón and described the coming hours as “difficult and complex”. He framed the fires not as isolated incidents but as the most painful expression of a climate emergency making sixth-generation fires more voracious, heatwaves more frequent and the land more vulnerable. Sánchez called for a national pact against climate denialism and inaction; the proposal was rejected by the opposition Partido Popular, which dismissed it as political communication. Meanwhile, the government declared a national emergency for the first time because of wildfires, taking command of operations in Madrid and Ávila, and will approve a decree to classify the affected zones as severely damaged by a civil protection emergency, unlocking reconstruction aid.

What we are living through is not a succession of isolated episodes. It is the most painful expression of a climate emergency that is making sixth-generation fires more voracious, heatwaves more frequent and, consequently, our territory more vulnerable. This is no longer an exception. It is the rule.

In France, President Emmanuel Macron travelled to Bordeaux and warned that “the coming weeks will be difficult”. While a smaller fire in the Landes area was contained, he stressed it remained active and dangerous, urging maximum caution in the hours and days ahead.