The wildfire crisis in southern Europe is taking on increasingly dramatic proportions. In France alone, around 58,000 people have already been evacuated from popular tourist areas along the Atlantic coast. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez described the situation in his country and neighboring states as "dramatic" on Friday, and his government declared a "state of emergency of national scope" for two regions.
Both France and Spain have requested assistance from the European Union, which has responded by sending firefighting aircraft.
According to Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, the "largest" wildfire of the season in France is raging near the Bay of Arcachon. Local authorities report that 35,000 people have already been evacuated from the area, with a total of 40,000 expected to be moved to safety, according to Nuñez. Campsites and holiday villages have also been affected, impacting large numbers of tourists. No casualties have been reported so far.
The fire, which has threatened the popular tourist peninsula of Cap Ferret, has already destroyed more than 10,000 hectares of land. On Friday morning, several hundred people evacuated from Cap Ferret arrived by boat in Arcachon. Roughly a hundred kilometers further south, more than 2,500 hectares have burned near the town of Biscarrosse, forcing the evacuation of 23,000 people.
High temperatures, strong winds, and vegetation dried out by three heatwaves are accelerating the spread of the fires. The Atlantic coastal region is characterized by pine forests that are currently parched. Firefighters expect conditions to worsen on Friday, as winds are forecast to strengthen and shift direction.
In total, France had 32 active wildfires of varying intensity, according to Interior Minister Nuñez. Since the start of the year, 50,000 hectares have burned, roughly three times as much as during the same period last year.
In response to the wildfires, the European Union has dispatched three aircraft and two helicopters from its emergency response fleet to France, a Commission spokesperson said. President Emmanuel Macron had previously asked the EU for assistance. The EU has also sent four Canadair firefighting planes to Spain. Spain had requested four water-bomber aircraft through the EU's Civil Protection Mechanism to help combat the fires.
In Spain, hundreds of emergency personnel are fighting wildfires in the region surrounding the capital, Madrid. According to authorities, the fires were still out of control on Friday morning. Officials are particularly concerned about the weather, with wind expected to hamper firefighting efforts on Friday, the Madrid regional administration said via the online platform X.
According to the regional government, two of the three wildfires west of Madrid were on the verge of merging into one major blaze on Friday. The sea of flames is advancing toward Navas del Rey, around 50 kilometers from the edge of Madrid. The fire is "out of control," and further villages are being evacuated.
Prime Minister Sánchez described the wildfire situation in parts of Spain and neighboring countries as "dramatic," stating that the government is deploying "all available" resources.
Due to the wildfires, the Spanish government declared a "state of emergency of national scope" for two regions on Thursday evening. This applies immediately to the greater Madrid region and the nearby province of Ávila, the Interior Ministry announced. The declaration allows the state to mobilize additional resources and funding in the fight against the flames.
Numerous fires have broken out across Spain in recent days. Around Madrid alone, 10,000 people have had to leave their homes. In total, nearly 130,000 hectares of land have burned in Spain so far this year.
Emergency crews in Italy are also battling flames, with the Mediterranean island of Sicily and the region of Calabria among the areas affected.
According to scientists, human-caused climate change is increasing the length, intensity, and frequency of extreme heat, which in turn creates favorable conditions for wildfires to spread and makes firefighting efforts more difficult.
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