Wildfires Rage Across Spain and France: Thousands Evacuated, EU Assistance Requested

Across Europe, forest fires have already burned more land this year than the annual average for the past two decades.  As of Wednesday, wildfires have burned 254,388 hectares across the EU since the start of the year, according to data from the European Forest Fires Information System.

The Cap Ferret peninsula is known as a home to valuable real estate and is currently full of tourists spending their summer holidays at campsites and in rental homes.

Local authorities have announced that anyone still on the peninsula's four villages must leave by boat or the only road connecting the area to the mainland by Friday morning.

The situation in southwestern France has rapidly deteriorated with another forest fire that broke out Thursday afternoon near Biscarosse, just 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Cap Ferret. The fire, which is still not under control, has destroyed 2,500 hectares, said Gilles Clavreul, prefect of the Landes region, in a statement. The persistent winds are also worsening the situation. Authorities have asked farmers for support in providing water tanks.

More than 23,000 people have been evacuated from the Biscarosse district, mainly from campsites and homes.

France has been particularly hard hit by three heatwaves this year. French security forces are engaged in a real battle against forest fires, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on Thursday evening.

Local officials emphasized that the extreme dryness of the soil and undergrowth in New Aquitaine has rendered conventional excavation and direct firefighting methods virtually ineffective.

France Asks For Help

French President Emmanuel Macron announced that he has requested the European Union to activate the Civil Protection Mechanism.

In a post on social media, Macron said the situation remained "extremely tense," particularly in the southwestern department of Gironde, where fires have affected more than 8,700 hectares.

In 2022, wildfires in Gironde forced nearly 50,000 people to flee as more than 30,000 hectares of forest burned.

\ A fire is currently also raging around the villages of Correns and Montfort-sur-Argens in southeast France's Var department, where 2,700 hectares have burnt as of Thursday evening. According to authorities, around 800 firefighters have been working to tackle the blaze alongside aerial support.

France is counting on support from two Croatian Canadair planes, two Portuguese Air Tractor planes, as well as two heavy Black Hawk helicopters from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, wrote President Macron on Friday in a post on X.

Spain Declares National Emergency

Spain officially declared a state of emergency late on Thursday evening. Dangerous fires have surpassed initial defense lines and approached alarmingly close to major urban centers in the provinces of Madrid and Ávila.

Authorities said on Friday morning that fires in the towns of Villa del Prado and San Martín de Valdeiglesias to the west of the Spanish capital remain "out of control,".

Authorities have issued mandatory evacuation orders for several rural towns on the outskirts of Madrid, and key thoroughfares and regional passenger rail services have been temporarily suspended to prevent vehicle entrapment and clear logistical corridors for arriving rescue convoys. Regional hospital networks remain on high alert, treating dozens of rescuers and civilians suffering from acute smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion.

The central government's decision marks a critical escalation in public safety mobilization. Regional rescuers and municipal services have been joined by specialized military contingents from the Military Emergency Unit (UME), as well as heavy aircraft and helicopters for water drops. Operational crews have been working around the clock, desperately trying to contain high-intensity fires raging in the arid countryside around the capital and in the mountainous, rugged terrain of Ávila. Local emergency services officials report that relative humidity levels falling below  15%, combined with ambient temperatures exceeding  40C, making firefighting extremely difficult. These challenging weather conditions have allowed intense, localized fires to leap across multi-lane highways, wide riverbeds, and previously designated regional firebreaks with surprising speed.