Spain's king says wildfires have caused severe natural damage

Update

King Felipe VI said the wildfires had caused an "incalculable" loss of natural heritage.

The king spoke during a visit to a shelter for evacuees in Madrid.

The king said some evacuees had been away from home for four days and some had lost many possessions.

Source note: AFP news report published on 26 July 2026 at 12:07:16 UTC.

Update

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said difficult hours lay ahead in fighting the wildfires.

Sanchez said officials had received a positive overnight update on the fires' progression, containment and firefighting around Madrid.

The source gives Spanish displacement figures of about 60,000 around Madrid and 15,000 in Castellon in the Valencia region.

Firefighting planes from Italy and Portugal were helping Spanish ground teams.

Source note: AFP news report published on 26 July 2026 at 09:55:18 UTC.

Update

France's southwestern city of Bordeaux was under threat, with a major highway and train lines cut.

More than 5,200 firefighters, soldiers and gendarmes were mobilised for the Gironde fire.

Cestas, near Bordeaux, was described by its mayor as deserted, with only a few of its 17,000 residents resisting evacuation.

A separate wildfire in the Landes region that had forced 30,000 evacuations was described as better contained but not yet stopped.

In Spain, more villages west of Madrid were evacuated overnight, and winds were pushing fires south, away from the capital for now.

A new fire front opened near Valencia, where at least 15,000 people were evacuated.

One civilian death was reported near Valencia in a separate smaller fire on Saturday, while France had reported two firefighter deaths near Bordeaux on Wednesday.

France and Spain had received firefighting help from other European countries, including aircraft, helicopters and a Swiss fire crew.

Source note: AFP news report published on 26 July 2026 at 09:52:14 UTC.

Update

Thousands of displaced people crowded emergency shelters in France and Spain on Sunday.

Around 5,000 to 6,000 people spent the night at Bordeaux's exhibition centre.

The Gironde fire service said the blaze generated a rare pyrocumulonimbus cloud that created winds and whirlwinds and made the fire erratic and unmanageable.

French authorities said the total evacuated from Gironde alone topped 200,000, after 197,000 were initially moved and 3,000 later allowed to return.

Fires across France have burned nearly 98,000 hectares, which Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez called a historic record.

In southwestern France, more than 32,000 hectares have burned and at least 100 buildings have been destroyed.

Sunday's final stage of the Tour de France was shortened because security personnel were needed on the fire front.

Spain's Aemet weather agency said smoke plumes from the French and Spanish fires were beginning to merge in the atmosphere.

Two of the three major fires west of Madrid have merged and are threatening to join another blaze.

Source note: AFP news report published on 26 July 2026 at 03:59:08 UTC.

Update

Authorities said more than 300,000 people across France and Spain had fled fires.

Officials in southwestern France ordered a further 55,000 people to leave late Saturday after the Gironde blaze intensified again.

Authorities said total evacuations from Gironde alone topped 200,000.

A French firefighter described the Gironde fire as creating its own winds and whirlwinds, and warned of another difficult night.

A separate wildfire near Valencia killed one person Saturday before being brought under control.

French authorities said fires across France had burned nearly 98,000 hectares, described by Interior Minister Laurent Nunez as a historic record.

Authorities said fires in southwestern France had burned more than 32,000 hectares and destroyed at least 100 buildings.

France deployed 1,500 soldiers, 1,700 security personnel, an A400M aircraft and additional firefighters, with Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu saying 1,400 firefighters were tackling the blazes.

Sunday's final stage of the Tour de France was shortened so officers assigned to race security could be redeployed to the fires.

Spain's Aemet weather agency said satellite images showed smoke clouds from French and Spanish fires starting to connect in the atmosphere.

Source note: AFP news report published on 25 July 2026 at 22:21:16 UTC.

Update

Spain's interior ministry announced the new evacuations late Saturday.

The fires were described as burning near Madrid, including in Toledo province southwest of the Spanish capital.

Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said the situation was complex.

Grande-Marlaska said officials were more pessimistic than the previous day because weather conditions had not helped and the night ahead did not look favorable.

Source note: AFP news report published on 25 July 2026 at 21:33:55 UTC.