What to know about the historic wildfires in France and Spain

Historic wildfires in France and Spain have forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes

PARIS -- Heat waves and scant rainfall in Europe have contributed to historic wildfires in France and Spain that have forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes in one of the continent's biggest evacuation efforts since World War II.

Rising temperatures later this week could complicate efforts to battle the blazes that have scorched an area four times the size of Paris in southwestern France and are raging near Spain's capital, Madrid.

Climate data shows Europe is heating faster than anywhere else on earth. The continent has already faced extreme heat events multiple times this year.

Firefighters in Spain have called the blazes so violent that they could not be tackled head on. But the first glimmer of hope emerged Monday in France that the spread of a giant fire in the southwestern Gironde region may have slowed.

Europe's above-average temperatures, with a prolonged heatwave in June, have contributed to drought conditions. Record-breaking temperatures in Western Europe compounded low rainfall levels as the extreme heat drew moisture from vegetation, creating abundant fuel that allows flames to spread faster and burn more intensely.

A study released in June by World Weather Attribution found that the record-breaking heat in recent weeks would not have been possible without climate change .

France's national meteorological service Météo-France said June was the hottest on record there, averaging 3.8 degrees Celsius (6.8 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal, while rainfall was nearly 50% below average.

Spain is used to forest fires in warmer months, but climate change has made its summers hotter and drier . That, combined with the decline in farming and industries that once used forest materials, has turned large swaths of wilderness into a tinderbox.

While estimates vary, national and European Union authorities are reporting fires of record scope this year. The EU’s European Forest Fire Information System estimates that over 300,000 hectares (3,000 square kilometers or 1,160 square miles) have burned in France and Spain.

France’s Interior Ministry says 13,566 fires have swept across over 116,000 hectares (1,160 square kilometers or 448 square miles) since January, the highest annual figure in the country’s modern records.

Spain’s Minister for the Ecological Transition, Sara Aagesen, said the 153,000 hectares (1,530 square kilometers or 591 square miles) burned this year is six times the amount that burned through the first half of 2025.

Contributing to this year's total was Spain's largest and third-largest fires ever, with a blaze in the rural terrain of Ávila west of Madrid burning over 50,000 hectares (500 square kilometers or 193 square miles), some five times the area of Barcelona. Earlier this month, 13 people died in a blaze in southeastern Almeria, Spain's deadliest fire in recent memory.

Over 300,000 people have been displaced from their homes in France and Spain in what the EU on Monday called “one of the biggest evacuation operations in Europe.”

More than 250,000 people have been evacuated in France, with 220,000 of them in the southwestern region of Gironde. With France about to enter its peak August tourist season, Gironde authorities took steps to keep vacationers away, banning holiday camps for children and for people with disabilities.

In Spain, 79,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in villages west of Madrid and in Castellón, a province on the eastern coast, while 30,000 others have been confined to their homes, the government said.

European Commissioner for crisis management Hadja Lahbib said Monday that the EU had sent seven planes and four helicopters from Czechia, Croatia, Germany, Portugal, Slovakia, Sweden and Turkey to France, and another six planes from Greece, Italy and Turkey to Spain.

“No country should ever have to face a disaster of this scale alone,” Lahbib said. “To the people of France and Spain: Europe will stand with you until the fires are out.”

The 27-nation bloc’s Copernicus satellite program is providing emergency authorities with up-to-date maps of fire risk.

Spike reported from Budapest, Hungary. Associated Press writers Joseph Wilson in Barcelona, Spain, and Sam McNeil in Brussels contributed.

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