Bastille Day celebrations in France tempered by fear of more wildfires

Firework displays cancelled as Paris military parade asserts ‘France’s rearmament … and Europe’s strategic awakening’

Emmanuel Macron has presided over his final Bastille Day parade in Paris amid a searing heatwave and wildfires that forced authorities around the country to cancel traditional firework displays and balls celebrating France’s national day.

The French president was joined for the annual military procession and flypast by his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the British ‌prime minister, Keir Starmer, the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and two dozen other national leaders.

Macron said on Monday night it was a great honour to welcome to the parade “all the partners in the coalition of the willing and our Ukrainian friends, who will march with us and illustrate its strategic reawakening and our unity”.

The parade, which marks the 1789 storming of the Bastille fortress, followed a meeting in Paris on Monday of western allies supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia. About 500 soldiers from those countries marched alongside French troops.

The foreign fighters, including British troops for the first time in about 20 years, marched in combat fatigues and dress uniforms with their national flags in a break from tradition. Usually only one foreign country is invited to take part.

Aircraft from Germany, the UK, Croatia, Poland, Denmark, Greece, Sweden, Norway, Spain and Italy took part in the flypast.

Twenty-five Ukrainian soldiers also marched down the Champs-Elysées and Ukrainian co-pilots flew French Mirage jets as part of what a French official said was “a strong signal that Europe is waking up to how dangerous the world has become”.

The parade, France’s largest ever with nearly 6,700 troops, 98 aircraft, 31 helicopters and 315 vehicles, was also intended to display “France’s rearmament, France’s strategic autonomy, and Europe’s strategic awakening”, the official said.

France’s deputy defence minister, Alice Rufo, said the procession showed “a Europe united and determined to support Ukraine in the face of Russia, a Europe that is confident in itself”.

Many local authorities cancelled Bastille Day firework displays because of concerns about the high risk of more forest fires as France suffers its third heatwave of the summer, with temperatures in the high 30s across much of the country.

About 850 firefighters and four water-bombing planes using water from the Seine continued to battle two wildfires ravaging the Fontainebleau forest , a former royal hunting ground popular with hikers and climbers about 40 miles (60km) south-east of Paris.

The fires, which erupted on Sunday and Monday, had burned about 2,050 hectares – about 10% of the forest – by midday on Tuesday, authorities said, adding that firefighters hoped to bring the blazes under control by evening.

The fires have forced about 1,000 people in and around Fontainebleau to flee their homes. Authorities are investigating whether they were started deliberately and have arrested six people, including a volunteer firefighter, on suspicion of arson.

One suspect had admitted using petrol and a cigarette lighter to start fires in the forest over the weekend, and another to doing so accidentally by throwing away a burning cigarette butt, the Fontainebleau public prosecutor said on Tuesday.

France’s interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, has said 32,000 hectares across France have been burned so far this year, more than during the entire 2025 fire season, with traditionally cooler regions such as Brittany also affected.

In some places, including in Paris, the traditional Bastille Day firefighters’ balls have been called off to avoid heat exhaustion and limit the demands on emergency services.

Human-caused climate breakdown is supercharging extreme weather across the world, driving more frequent and more deadly disasters such as heatwaves and wildfires.

Bastille Day also marked the 10th anniversary of a terror attack in Nice in which a truck was driven into a crowd, killing 86 and wounding more than 400. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the atrocity.

The French football team’s World Cup semi-final against Spain in Dallas, Texas, which millions of TV viewers in France are expected to watch on Tuesday evening, will be preceded by a minute’s silence for the victims of the Nice attack, Macron has said.

The Eiffel Tower firework display, a staple of Bastille Day celebrations, was held on Monday out of respect for the victims of the Nice attack.